The Book of Seals to the Magical World
by Teddylonglong
Summary: Six-year-old Harry Potter finds a strange, very magical book, which on a harmless touch changes his whole life. Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel
1. Prologue

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

Six-year-old Harry Potter glanced around in amazement. For the first time in his life, he had just entered a bookshop. It was a small bookshop on a side street, and his aunt merely dragged Dudley and Harry into the shop to look for a guidebook about Majorca, where the three Dursleys were going to spend their winter holidays.

While Petunia was eagerly checking the ' _Travel_ ' section and Dudley was disinterestedly standing in a corner, sucking his thumb, Harry skimmed the shelf in front of him with interest.

' _The Book of Seals to the Magical World_ ,' he read in disbelief. ' _I thought there was no such thing as magic_.' Before he even realized what he was doing, his hands began to act on their own accord and pulled the old tome off of the shelf, noticing that it was quite heavy. ' _Oh, this book is absolutely beautiful_ ,' Harry mused at the sight of the old, copperplate book cover that was decorated with an ancient design. The background was green, and golden symbols decorated the four corners. ' _They're all different. I wonder if they have any meaning_ ,' Harry mused as he tried to figure out what the animals were that were playing in the middle of the front cover. ' _Wait_ ,' he thought in disbelief, ' _they're moving_!'

Completely forgetting his surroundings, Harry hesitantly opened the interesting book. However, the first page was written in some kind of old letters, which Harry couldn't read. ' _Strange_ ,' he thought and carefully turned the pages until he came to a page, on which he saw a drawing. ' _I wonder if that moves as well_ ,' he mused and hesitantly moved his small thumb over the picture.

Before he could realise what was happening, a small whirlwind began whipping gently around him. It became stronger and stronger, and Harry couldn't see anything, until it calmed down again. He curiously looked around, noticing that the bookshop, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were gone. Instead, he found himself just in front of the exact scenery the drawing in the book showed.

 _tbc...?_


	2. A baby's voice

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

Glancing around with interest, Harry mused, ' _Where am I?_ ' He found himself on a small, snowy street with houses on both sides of the street. There weren't any cars to be seen or heard, and several children were playing in the middle of the street. ' _Everything looks so different here_ ,' he thought, noticing that the houses were much smaller than the buildings in Little Whinging and were built from wood or large, irregular stones.

Suddenly, a girl, who seemed to be about the same age as Harry, came over to him. "Hello," she said friendly. "Who are you, and why are you wearing those strange clothes?"

Harry shyly looked at the girl, noticing that she and the other children, who were slowly coming nearer, were wearing long coats, and even the boys were wearing skirts under their coats. "Hello. I'm Harry," he said shyly, quickly sliding the book into the pocket of his jacket. "I have no idea how I ended up here."

"I'm Ceridwen Hufflepuff, and I'm six," the girl replied, smiling, and Harry noticed that she had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen before. Ceridwen had light blue eyes that were twinkling with joy and were surrounded by light brown hair. She gently introduced her friends, before she realised that Harry was shivering in his jeans and jacket. "Harry, you're cold, aren't you? Let me take you home and ask my Mum for something to wear for you. Or maybe she can cast a warming charm on you. She's a healer," Ceridwen explained proudly and waved at her friends. "We'll see you later on."

Before Harry could process what was happening, the girl was pulling him along the street towards a very cosy looking little house. "Mummy! Daddy! Helga!" she shouted, causing her mother, a plump middle-aged woman with the same bright smile as Ceridwen's, to appear at the entrance door.

"What happened, Ceridwen? Oh, you brought a visitor," she said in surprise and extended her hand to Harry. "Hello, I am Ceridwen's mother, Heather Hufflepuff. I don't recall having seen you around before, has your family just arrived here?"

"Hello Mrs. Hufflepuff," Harry said shyly. "I'm sorry; I'm not exactly sure how I managed to get here. Where are we?"

"We're in Hogsmeade, the only wizarding village in Britain," Heather explained gently. "Come in, sweetie; you must be freezing without a proper cloak."

Seeing that Ceridwen took her shoes and her coat off, Harry followed her example, before he pulled the book out of his pocket and entered a very comfortable looking room behind Ceridwen and her mother. It seemed to be the kitchen and the living room combination. A middle-aged man, who sported a neatly trimmed beard, and a young woman that resembled Ceridwen and her mother a great deal, except for her slightly red hair, were sitting around a wooden table in front of the fireplace.

"This is my husband Heath and my daughter Helga," Heather explained softly, motioning Harry to sit on the seat next to her own, while her family members cast Harry inviting smiles.

"I am Harry," he said, as he hesitantly took the offered seat. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Now now, sweetie; you're not disturbing us at all," Helga said soothingly, causing Harry to give the kind young lady a grateful smile.

Harry unsurely laid the book on the table in front of him and explained how he had been in a bookshop with his aunt and cousin and had found the book. "I couldn't read anything, because it was written in strange letters or symbols I don't understand, but on the second page, I found a picture, and when I touched it to see if it moved like the animals on the cover, I ended up here. Out on the street it looked just like the picture."

"Show me the book," Heath said in a deep voice, slowly extending his hand.

"Dad, be careful not to touch any pictures. We wouldn't want you to be taken anywhere else. Harry must come from far away, considering how strange his English is," Helga admonished him, sounding very worried.

"Yeah, Daddy, be careful," Ceridwen agreed with her big sister.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Heath promised and cautiously opened the book.

The others observed how he stared at the first page in disbelief. "Harry, in which year are you born?"

"1980," Harry replied in surprise. "Why?"

"1980!" Heather and Helga shouted simultaneously, eyeing Harry in disbelief.

"Excuse me, but...?" he stammered in a hardly audible voice, anxiously averting his eyes to the wooden floor.

"Harry, everything is all right, sweetie," Heather said soothingly, gently patting his left arm. "It's just that the date here is the twentieth of December, 986. You travelled one thousand years into the past."

"I... WHAT?" Harry asked incredulously. "But how..."

"This book is an object that possesses a very strong magic," Heath said thoughtfully. "On the first page, it explains that this book is a self-updating and unique edition of a chronic of Britain's magical world from the founding of Hogsmeade onwards..."

"This village here is Hogsmeade, and it was founded by Hengist of Woodcroft about thirty years ago," Helga quickly interrupted her father.

"There is also a warning, which says not to touch the pictures; otherwise, the book will take you to the scene you just touched," Heath continued his explanation. "The picture that obviously brought you here is attached to a text about the founding of Hogsmeade as the first magical village in Britain."

"Magical?" Harry asked frightened. "There is no such a thing as magic. At least, that's what my relatives have always told me," he added in a small voice, realising that everyone was looking at him.

"Of course there is magic, Harry," Heather explained softly. "It was magic that allowed you to come here, and you're a wizard."

"I?" Harry asked, terrified. ' _I'm a freak, I know that, but I can't be a... wizard_ ,' he thought incredulously. "That must be some mistake, Madam. I can't be a wizard," he said hesitantly, causing the others to laugh.

"Of course you are, Harry," Helga said softly. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to make the book bring you here. You needed your own magic to initiate the book's magic, right Dad?"

"Yes my dear," Heath confirmed, smiling. "This book is very interesting. According to the explanation on the first page, you can even create your own pages in case you want to travel to a specific time or place not covered in the book. With that, you'll even be able to travel back to the future, if that's what you really want."

' _I don't think I want to go back_ ,' Harry thought. ' _Everyone is so friendly here, and I really like this family. On the other hand, they'll throw me out as soon as they notice what a freak and a burden I am_.'

"If you touch a picture and at the same time think of a specific date, the book will take you to that exact date," Heath continued to read from the book. "Otherwise, you can add a date by writing it directly on a picture."

"Harry, don't go back. Stay here with me," Ceridwen suddenly spoke up. "I always wanted to have a brother or a bestest friend, and I like you. Since Helga is going to move to the new castle sometime, I'd really love you to stay here."

Harry felt very happy at the girl's kind words. "I'd love to stay, but I don't want to be a burden to your parents," he said in a barely audible voice, unconsciously playing with a loose thread at the bottom of his jumper.

"Harry, you won't be a burden to us and you're very welcome to stay," Heather said softly. "However, won't your family be very concerned about your disappearance? They have no idea where you went and will be beside themselves with worry."

"No." Harry shook his head. "My parents are dead, and my relatives, who I'm living with, hate me," he explained sadly. "They'll be glad that I'm gone."

"Oh my poor sweetie," Heather cooed as she stood up and pulled Harry in a bear hug. "In that case and if you're really sure that you want to stay here, you may live with us. Our home is small, but we'll surely find some space for you."

"Really?" Harry asked in disbelief. ' _They're willing to take me in_ ,' he thought, unable to believe his luck.

"Of course, sweetie; if that's what you want," Heather said gently, causing the others to nod their heads in agreement.

"Harry, if you stay here, we can attend Hogwarts together," Ceridwen shouted in absolute excitement, causing Harry to cast her a questioning look.

Helga laughed and explained, "My three best friends and I are building a magical school just outside of the village. Actually, it's really tough work, because we're building a huge castle. It needs thick walls, and we're proceeding quite slowly, because it affords a lot of magic, but we hope to be done in about a year's time. Then we're going to teach magical students from the age of eleven onwards. Oh well, considering that Ceridwen can't wait to enter Hogwarts, we might consider making an exception and allow her in at the age of eight. Of course you'll be granted the same privileges," she added, smiling at Harry.

"Wow, a magical school, and you're building it by yourselves?" Harry said in amazement. "Is there anything I could do to help with your work?"

Helga laughed. "Ceridwen always wants to help, too; however, it affords a lot of magic. You may help, provided that you let Mum or me check on you beforehand. We don't want you to collapse because you have depleted your magic."

"All right," Harry said softly, having no idea what Helga was talking about.

"Do you want to go for a small trip to the castle, Helga?" her mother asked gently. "If so, you should go right away. It's going to get dark in two hours at the latest."

"Oh, all right," Helga decided, knowing that her mother did not want her to take the children up to the castle in the dark because the animals, who lived in the forest, could be very dangerous. "Harry, let me quickly cast a diagnostic spell on you. All right?" she asked in a very soft voice.

"Okay," Harry replied anxiously, glancing at Heather.

"It's all right, sweetie. Helga has been my apprentice for years, and she's as good a healer as I am. She won't hurt you," Heather said soothingly, causing Harry to relax.

Helga quickly waved her hand over Harry and frowned, muttering to herself. "Mum, he's all right, and his magic is extremely strong for his age, but I don't think his relatives treated him very well. It looks as if he has several injuries that remained untreated and aren't properly healed yet."

Heather turned to Harry, noticing that he was very frightened. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry replied uncertainly.

"In that case, leave it for the moment, Helga," Heather decided. "We can still think about these injuries at a later time, considering that they don't seem to currently be bothering Harry. Now, bring me the clothes you were wearing earlier, Harry."

Harry obediently fetched his jacket and handed it to Heather. "Hmm, that's what clothes one thousand years into the future look like," she stated, smiling as she waved her hand over the jacket, causing it to turn into a winter cloak like those the other children had been wearing earlier. "That's a robe, sweetie. All wizards wear robes, and it should be much warmer than your old one."

"Thank you so much," Harry said gratefully, admiring his new robe that held a beautiful green colour that matched his eyes. "This is very pretty."

"You're welcome, Harry. Now, try it on, so we can see if it fits," Heather instructed him, gently.

Harry obeyed, and Heather once more waved her hand, causing the robe to shrink until it fit him perfectly. ' _Wow, magic is absolutely cool_ ,' Harry thought in amazement.

"All right then; Ceridwen, Harry, shall we go?" Helga asked, and the three excitedly left the living room, pulled their robes over and headed into the snow. "Are you warm enough?" Helga asked gently, causing Harry to throw her a huge smile.

"I've never felt so happy and warm. Thank you," he replied gratefully. "It's amazing. This is one thousand years into the past. So I suppose you don't have cars yet? That's why children can play on the street. I like that," he said in a small voice, looking around with a great deal of interest and amazement of the differences from his own time.

"You'll have to tell us a lot about the future, Harry. I already know that my friends will be very interested in your stories," Helga replied, before she warned him, "Harry, this might feel a bit strange for an instant; we're going to pass the wards."

' _Thank God she warned me_ ,' Harry thought as he felt a bout of magic flash through his body. "Uh, wow, that felt very tingly," he said in surprise. "What was that?"

"That was the wards we built up around the castle. They make sure that muggles, non-magical people," she added after seeing Harry's confused expression, "can't see the castle, and they prevent unauthorised persons from entering the grounds. The wards only allowed you in, because you were with me. Now they have registered your magical signature, and from now on you'll be able to enter the grounds even if I'm not with you."

Harry did not understand everything of the explanation; however, he was glad that he had been allowed inside the wards and looked at the pieces and bits of wall in front of him with interest.

"Harry, you must not go into the forest," Helga said in a strict voice. "There are many magical and non-magical animals in the forest, and some of them are very dangerous. You may only enter the forest if an adult is with you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand," Harry said firmly, making a mental note to never ever set a foot into the forest without an adult. However, the forest somehow seemed to be very intriguing, and he couldn't take his eyes off of the front row of trees, hoping to see one or more of the magical animals that made the forest their home.

Quicker than expected, they reached the outer walls of the castle that so far consisted of two large towers and a whole lot of lower walls. ' _Wow, these walls are as thick as my cupboard was long_ ,' Harry mused, looking at the huge stones with interest. "These walls are so thick," he said in amazement, causing Helga to chuckle.

"Well, they're going to be the part of the foundation and base walls of a huge castle that is supposed to accommodate a school full of children. The walls have to be thick," she explained, motioning Harry to place his right hand on the wall. "You can talk to the castle by the way. She is called Hogwarts, and you'll be able to speak with her if you put your hand on the wall. Just tell her who you are and that you're going to help build her with your magic, and she'll recognise you in the future."

"That's true, Harry," Ceridwen threw in, eagerly. "I've been talking to her from time to time. She's very funny, although she's still a baby."

Harry smiled and hesitantly placed his right hand on the stone that felt very warm in spite of the fact that it was extremely cold out, now that the sun was just about to set. "Hello Hogwarts," he said softly. "I'm Harry, and I'll try to help Helga and her friends build you. How come that you're so warm, although it's so cold here?"

The wall remained quiet for an instant, and Harry was just about to pull his hand away in disappointment, when a female, childish voice penetrated his ears. "Hello Hawwy. Fanku fow coming to help de Founders. It's wawm because I'm made of mashic and lobe. The combination of mashic and lobe keeps me wawm."

"You sound very young," Harry said, smiling, noticing that the castle's voice sounded like that of a very small child.

"I'm fibe momfs old," Hogwarts replied in her high, childish voice. "And you?"

"I'm six years old," Harry replied. ' _She is very cute_ ,' he thought and was just about to ask another question, when a deep voice from behind caused him to flinch back badly and hurriedly pull his hand away.

"Harry Potter," the voice hissed in a menacing tone. "What do you think you're doing here?"

Harry quickly tried to hide behind Helga, throwing the man that was towering in front of them an anxious look.

"I... I came here with a book and then Helga brought me here and told me I could help build the castle," he stammered, noticing terrified that several other men, who were all wearing similar black robes, appeared from behind the man with the evil look on his face. ' _What's wrong?_ ' he mused. ' _Who are they, and how do they know who I am?_ ' he thought, suddenly realising that it was strange that they knew his name. ' _I didn't tell anyone my last name_ ,' he remembered, ' _not even the Hufflepuffs_.'

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think. Have a nice week._


	3. Digging the dungeons

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"Oh Salazar, Godric, don't frighten the Lytling (child) like that. You're impossible," Helga said in a firm voice, shaking her head in annoyance, before she turned to Harry. "These are my friends Salazar and Godric," she pointed to two of the men, "and the others are their brothers."

Harry inwardly sighed in relief as he slowly relaxed. He had been very frightened at the men's sight. "But how do they know my name?" he suddenly remembered.

"That's because the wards have told us that someone with your name entered the Hogwarts grounds and that you have been keyed into them," the man called Godric replied in a gentle voice. "Sorry for frightening you, little one."

"Very well then, shall we begin to work?" Salazar spoke up. "Did you come to work as well, Thunderbolt?" he asked Harry. "Or did you merely come to gawk?"

Harry was glad that Ceridwen asked immediately, "Thunderbolt?"

"Did you not see the scar on his forehead? It looks like a thunderbolt! And you claim to be the sister and daughter of healers?" Salazar scoffed, turning back to Harry. "Thunderbolt, come along with me and you can help me make a few rooms in the dungeons."

"All right," Harry replied, feeling slightly anxious. On one hand, he was a bit frightened of the tall man; however, on the other hand, he was eager to do something. He would feel safer if he was allowed to work, because he was used to doing chores at home. "I like the castle, and I'd love to help building her," he said, hesitantly, and hurried to follow Salazar through what seemed destined to become the entrance to the castle at a later time. He noticed quickly that he had to hurry in order to keep up with the man, who strode ahead in a fast pace. ' _It's funny how his robes billow behind him_ ,' Harry thought in amusement when he, to his huge surprise, noticed a path leading down to an underground area.

"These are going to be the dungeons," Salazar explained, and Harry noticed in relief that he sounded much nicer than before.

"Excuse me, sir, but what are the dungeons?" he asked in a small voice.

"The dungeons are where my house is going to be. I don't know how much Helga has told you, but we're four friends building this castle together, and all of us are going to become the teachers here. We haven't yet decided how to divide the students among the four of us, but we're probably going to have four houses, because the students will need someone to be responsible for them outside of classes. Anyway, my house will be here in the dungeons. We need dormitories as well as a common room for the students, and I wish to have my quarters here as well as an office and a classroom. Maybe even another room, which I can use as storage room for the ingredients," he added, thoughtfully.

"Ingredients, sir?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yes Thunderbolt; I'm going to teach Potions." Seeing that there was no sign of understanding in Harry's expression, he explained, "Potions are mainly used to heal illnesses, but you can also do many other things with them such as pranking your friends."

Harry looked at the tall man in amazement. ' _That sounds so interesting_ ,' he mused. ' _I hope I'll be able to stay here forever_.' By now they had reached the end of the small corridor, and Harry gave Salazar a questioning look. The founder pulled a small parchment out of his robe pocket that turned out to be a map, showing many thin corridors as well as a few larger openings that seemed to be intended as rooms. ' _The dungeons_ ' was written on top of the map. He pointed to a small green symbol.

"Now this is where we are now," Salazar explained. "I intend to make a few more small corridors in the direction of the lake here. I thought it might be funny to have the common room under the lake. What do you think, Thunderbolt?"

Harry looked at the map, pensively. "I think that's a funny idea, sir," he finally spoke up. "What about the dormitories tough? Will they be under the lake, too? Or would it be possible to make them right next to the lake and have one side like a window facing into the lake?"

"That's a very good idea, Thunderbolt. Let's go on with this corridor first then." Salazar pointed to a small line on the parchment. "Fodio recte," he said, waving his hand at the ground in front of them, and Harry watched in amazement how the corridor began to continue straight on. "Do you want to try? It affords quite some magic though, and we need to be careful that you don't deplete your magic," Salazar said in a firm voice.

"I'd love to try, but how..." Harry unsurely trailed off.

Salazar smirked. "Just wave your hand like this," he explained, carefully leading Harry's hand through the movement, "and say, 'Fodio recte.' It's a very simple spell in Latin and means to dig straight on."

Harry carefully waved his hand at the ground in front of them. "Fodio recte."

"Well done Thunderbolt," Salazar commended him as the corridor continued. "Now we need to turn right. The correct spells to make curves are 'Fodio deverti ad sinistram' to turn left and 'Fodio deverti dextrorsum' to turn right." Seeing that Harry's expression turned into confusion he sighed in apparent compassion. "They're long, I know. You see, Rowena is our brain. Normally, she invents new short spells from the long Latin expressions. However, recently, she hasn't been able to do so, because she's had so many visions that she became sick from them and is inventing something in order to show us her visions. Anyway, we have to use the long spells for the time being."

"All right," Harry said, smiling, as he eagerly tried to remember the incantations that the older wizard had told him.

Salazar and Harry continued to make their path in the direction of the lake. After nearly an hour, Salazar showed Harry the map, on which the small green point had moved about half-way to the lake. "Very well then, from now on we have to dig deeper in order to end up under the lake. Our spell to use is 'Fodio recte descendo'. Would you like to try?" he asked, giving the child an encouraging look.

Harry waved his hand, and the corridor obediently continued downwards. By the time Salazar told him that they had reached the lake, Harry could not prevent himself from letting out a huge yawn.

"Thunderbolt, you look tired. I believe it's time to head back," Salazar said in a firm voice, only to add, "It's probably beyond your bedtime already, and you did use a lot of magic tonight."

Salazar waved his hand at the wall to their right side and mumbled an incantation that caused a wooden door to appear in the wall. As Salazar continued to cast spells, a staircase appeared behind the door that led them upstairs and finally ended out on the grounds, right next to the lake. They stepped out, and Salazar once more waved his hand, causing a trapdoor to appear in the grass, covering the top of the staircase. With another flick of his hand, the trapdoor was covered with grass, so that no one, who did not know about it, would be able to see it.

"Wow, that was absolutely cool," Harry said in amazement, causing Salazar to smirk.

"Just so you know, Thunderbolt, I sealed the trapdoor with a password. It's 'Descendio carceris', and to come up here from the dungeons it's 'Ascendio lacii'. The door in the dungeons is a hidden door as well. To everyone but the two of us it'll look like a normal wall."

"Thank you so much for letting me in on your secret," Harry said happily, and a huge smile began to spread over his face.

"Well, you helped me, didn't you? Will you come back tomorrow to help me build the common room?" Salazar enquired, smirking.

"I'd love to come. However, I'm living with Helga's and Ceridwen's family," Harry replied, hesitantly.

"Don't worry. Helga comes here every evening, just like all of us," Salazar informed him, reassuringly. "However, normally no one wants to help in the dungeons. They all prefer building walls and towers instead of digging into the ground."

Harry chuckled. "Don't worry, sir. I'll help you," he promised, sincerely. "I don't mind digging, and I look forward to making the dormitories right next to the lake, although I can understand the others too. Baby Hogwarts is so cute, and it must be fun to work with her walls."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

"Harry!" Ceridwen's voice suddenly penetrated his ear, and he saw the others standing in front of the castle's entrance.

Salazar and Harry hurried back to the group, and Harry noticed that everyone seemed to be very excited and contented with their evening's work.

"We should head home," Helga said, worriedly looking up at the sky that was already completely dark. "I'll be in so much trouble with Mum. She doesn't want me to have the little ones here after dark."

"Well, tell her that we were all with you," Godric said firmly. "How is Rowena by the way?"

Helga sighed. "She has been very sick today. I spent quite a bit of time with her this morning, and she had the same symptoms as if she had the stomach flu, but it's only due to her visions, which seem to have become increasing recently. Horrible things must be going to happen in the future. Anyway, I told her to rest and forbade her to come here tonight."

"I hope she'll be all right," Godric said in concern.

"She'll surely be. She said she got on well with her new invention and would be able to show us her memories soon."

"I could always use Legilimency on her," Salazar offered, causing Helga to glare at him.

"You can't do that, because she's running a fever. The visions are already making her really sick. I don't know why it has become so bad recently. These two weeks have been extremely awful for her. Normally, she has to deal with about one vision a week, but she told me she has had to watch at least five a night recently."

"I'll go and visit her. Maybe I can help her with the Pensieve," Godric said in apparent determination.

"I think that's a very good idea," Helga agreed, smiling, and everyone began to walk back towards Hogsmeade.

Harry, who felt very tired, was glad that Ceridwen kept him entertained by her stories of how she had spent the evening helping her sister to make the Hufflepuff common room. By the time they reached home, a huge pot with stew was waiting on the table in the living room. Although the meal was delicious, Harry could only stomach a little bit, as he was not used to eating much. Seeing that he was nearly falling asleep over his plate, Heather motioned him to come with her.

"Let me take you to bed, sweetie; you look dead on your feet. Did you use much magic?" she asked in a gentle voice

"I don't know," Harry replied sleepily. "I've never used magic before, but it worked and it was so much fun. I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

"You're no trouble at all, sweetie," Heather said softly and made him use the bathroom, before she led him into the bedroom that held a double bed at the far end and a normal bed as well as a bunk bed on the other side. "Heath just invented that bed for you and Ceridwen, because we don't have space for an extra bed on the floor, so he thought it would work to have two of them stacked on top of one another," Heather explained. "Would you prefer to sleep on the bottom bed or the top?"

"I'd prefer this one," Harry replied, pointing to the lower bed, "if Ceridwen is all right with the top one."

Heather laughed. "Ceridwen will love it. She'll think it's great fun." She pulled a white night robe out of a cupboard and waved her hand at it, changing the girlish pattern to a design of roaring dragons. "Here sweetie, change into your night robe and get into bed please. I'll be back in a few minutes to tuck you in."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully and hurriedly got ready for bed, frowning at the fact that he had to wear a night robe like a girl. ' _Maybe in this time everyone wears them_ ,' a small voice at the back of his head told him, causing him to calm down.

By the time Heather returned, he was nearly half asleep, and his clothes were properly folded on the chair next to his bed. "Good night, sweetie," Heather said softly, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I'm glad we have you here."

"Night; I'm glad too, thank you," Harry mumbled, already drifting off to sleep with a small smile playing on his lips.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

In the morning, Harry woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. "Good morning, lazybones; it's time to get up," he heard a voice shouting and hesitantly opening his eyes, seeing Ceridwen's smiling face right in front of his own.

"Okay, I'm sorry for sleeping so long," he mumbled and quickly scrambled out of bed as soon as Ceridwen gave him enough space to move.

"You don't have to be sorry at all, Harry," Helga said in a soft voice.

Only now did Harry notice that she was sitting on the edge of the other bed and quickly said good morning.

"Ceridwen is only excited, because she intends to drag you with her to her classes this morning."

"Classes?" Harry asked in confusion. ' _I didn't know that they already had schools in this time. Well, apart from Hogwarts, but that's not finished yet_.'

Helga smiled. "As you might have noticed, Hogsmeade is a small town. All the kids here go to several houses in the mornings to learn special things. My mother and my friends' mothers are teaching the children here. Mrs. Gryffindor teaches reading, Mrs. Slytherin Math, my mother teaches them about wizarding etiquette, herbs and health, and Mrs. Ravenclaw, my friend Rowena's mother, teaches easy Runes. The children go to the teachers' houses in two groups, according to their ages, and since you're of the same age as Ceridwen, the two of you can go together. Now, I'll leave you in peace, so you can get dressed and come to the fireplace room for breakfast."

When Harry entered the living room, Heath was just about to leave. "I'm sorry, little one, but I have to go to work," he said softly, playfully ruffling Harry's hair.

"Heath is working as a magical architect," Heather explained in her soft voice. "Come here, Harry, and eat your breakfast. You and Ceridwen need to leave for Mrs. Ravenclaw's place in twenty minutes. Helga, are you going accompany me today, or what are your plans?"

Helga sighed. "If you're very busy, I'll come with you of course, but if you don't have too many patients, I'd like to spend the morning with Rowena. I'm a bit concerned about her, because she's not dealing with the onslaught of the visions she's been having. I'll be back before the children come here for their classes of course."

Harry ate a few bites of his breakfast, regretting that he felt full so soon, although the meal was absolutely delicious. ' _I don't know what it is, but I like it_ ,' he thought happily, munching on his spoonful of oatmeal and fruits with milk.

"Is everything all right, sweetie?" Heather asked in concern. "You're not used to eating much, are you? Did your relatives feed you at all?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, yes, but not so much and not so often," he replied in a small voice. "I'm very happy to be here. Thank you so much for taking me in. I love being here." Turning to Helga he asked hesitantly, "Will we go back to the castle tonight?"

Everyone laughed. "Did you have fun with Salazar?" Helga asked, smirking.

"Yes, it was so cool. We built corridors through the dungeons, and tonight we're going to make a common room under the lake," Harry explained in excitement, causing Helga and her mother to smile.

"Finished, Harry? Let's go to Mrs. Ravenclaw then. She's teaching us Runes," Ceridwen shouted happily, jumping up from her seat.

"Runes?" Harry queried.

"Yes, it's much fun. We get to draw pictures and everything. You'll love it," Ceridwen said eagerly, and Harry felt her enthusiasm cause him to become excited as well.

"All right then, let's go," he agreed and, following Ceridwen's example, pulled his new robes and his shoes on, enduring that Heather kissed both of them and made sure they were properly dressed so that they would not get cold.

"Be careful, sweeties," Heather advised them gently. "It's very cold outside, and it has snowed a lot during the night. I was even called away in the middle of the night because someone slipped in the snow and broke his ankle."

"We'll be careful," Ceridwen and Harry promised and hurriedly stepped out into the snow.

"I'll come with you," Helga announced and followed them across the street to a small stone house that looked very much like the Hufflepuffs' house.

The other four children of Ceridwen's and Harry's class were already waiting for them in front of the Ravenclaws' house, and Ceridwen happily introduced Harry to them, before Helga knocked on the door and led the group into the house.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ravenclaw, hello Rowena," she said in her soft voice, while all the children except for Ceridwen and Harry stormed into the room and made themselves comfortable around the table. "I'd like to introduce someone to you. This is Harry, my parents' new foster son. He is the same age as Ceridwen, and he'll be attending classes along with her." Pulling Harry into her arm, she said, "This is my best friend, Rowena, and her mother, Mrs. Ravenclaw."

"Hello Harry and welcome to Hogsmeade," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gently.

"Thank you, Madame," Harry said to the older woman, who had long black her and remarkable green eyes similar to his own. ' _She is beautiful_ ,' he thought and threw a curious look at Rowena, who fainted the moment Harry turned to look at her.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think. Have a nice week._


	4. The tripping staircases

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"Rowena!" Helga and Mrs. Ravenclaw shouted at the same time and hurried to the young woman's side, causing Harry to look upon the scene in shock. ' _Did she faint because of me?_ ' he wondered, horrified at the thought of it occurring because of him. "She'll be all right," Helga said soothingly after waving her hand over her friend a few times. "I'm going to take her back into the bed room, and I'll stay with her for a while."

"All right Helga, thank you," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gratefully, giving Harry a thoughtful look.

"I'm sorry," Harry said uncomfortably, shyly averting his eyes to the floor.

"There is nothing you have to be sorry for, Lufu (love)," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gently. "Rowena is ill, but it's not your fault. Now, take a seat at the table, so that we can begin with today's lesson."

' _It's still strange that she just collapsed as she looked at me_ ,' Harry mused as he hurriedly obeyed and looked in amazement at the parchments which Mrs. Ravenclaw spread over the table. Each of the parchments had old runes, and Harry noticed with interest that many of them seemed to contain pictures. The teacher made each of them read one line of runes, and Harry listened in awe, realising that a whole story was being told through the runes on each of the parchments. At the end of the class, Mrs. Ravenclaw handed each of them a parchment and instructed them to copy the runes on their own parchments and practise reading them.

"I think this is the easiest one," the woman said gently, handing Harry a parchment, on which most of the runes contained little pictures. "You need to practise a bit in order to catch up with the others, but since you have Ceridwen with you, I'm sure that you won't have any problems catching up with the others."

Harry thanked her profusely and happily trailed behind the others through the snow as they walked over to the Gryffindors' house for their Reading class.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the children's Runes class, Helga levitated Rowena into her bedroom and waved her hand over her friend, casting the _Enervate_ spell, which caused Rowena to slowly open her eyes.

"The boy," Rowena whispered, looking around frantically, "it's the boy."

"Does he appear in your visions?" Helga queried gently, lightly touching her friend's forehead with her index finger to check her temperature.

"Yes," Rowena said thoughtfully. "He is not the bad one though. He's the one fighting all the bad men. The poor child. But that can't be. I thought my visions were pointing to events far in the future. I don't know anymore. Helga, I feel so sick. Can you do anything to prevent me from getting these visions?"

"I'm so sorry, Rowena. Unfortunately, I can't do anything to prevent your visions. I can only help you feel better afterwards, and I brewed two potions for you, one for the nausea and one for the headache." She handed her friend two phials, instructing her to gulp them down straight away.

Rowena sighed in relief as she felt the potions take effect. "The boy, where did he come from? I've never seen him around before," she queried.

Helga sighed and explained, "Harry came from one thousand years into the future. He found a book that apparently has the ability to take him through time. He only arrived here yesterday, and my parents took him in, because he said he wanted to stay here instead of going back to the future, since his life in the future wasn't very good."

"He is my many times great grandson," Rowena mumbled. "I need to advise him what to do in a few years' time. We have to change everything." With that she slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

' _That's why she has been having so many visions recently_ ,' Helga mused, observing her friend in concern. ' _It's because they all involve Harry. She must have been sensing that Harry was going to come here. I have to ask Godric concerning the device he was going to help her invent, so she can show us the memories. She should be able to get rid of the visions at the same time. I'll also speak with Salazar. Perhaps he can develop a potion that'll keep her from getting these visions,_ ' she resolved. Knowing that her friend would probably sleep for a while, she quietly left the room and exchanged a few words with Rowena's mother, before she returned home. Helga arrived just when the children came from their Reading class.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The week before the Christmas holidays, Harry enjoyed himself very much. While he was behind the other children in most of his classes, he was very advanced in Math. However, his foster parents and sister soon noticed that he loved to read and very eagerly learned the letters that were used in their time. His favourite class was Runes though, and Harry absolutely loved to copy and trying to decipher the old runes.

For Christmas, Harry received a small booklet, hand written by Helga, ' _The Magical World at the Time of the Founding of Hogsmeade_.' Helga had compiled it especially for Harry, and it explained about the magical world at their current time. He also received a small pile of parchments and a quill. ' _Why does Father Christmas all of a sudden bring presents for me?_ ' Harry marvelled. So far, he had never received a present for Christmas, apparently because he hadn't been a good boy. ' _Am I better here in the past?_ ' he wondered, unaware of the concerned looks he received from his foster family.

"If you ask me, Harry never received a Christmas present before," Heather said to Helga, while they waited for Ceridwen and Harry to get into their beds late on Christmas day.

"I believe that you are correct in that assumption," Helga said thoughtfully. "I also believe that they didn't only neglect, but also abuse him. Did you notice that he flinches badly if you try to touch him?"

"I noticed that as well," Heather replied, sighing, "although I have the impression that it's slowly getting better, even if it's only been a bit more than a week since he arrived here."

"We're in bed. Come," Ceridwen's voice pulled the two witches out of their conversation, causing them to smile, knowing that Ceridwen was absolutely delighted to have Harry living with them.

"I think they're both very good for each other," Helga chuckled as she followed her mother into the bed room. ' _Ceridwen needs something to occupy her overflowing energy, and Harry needs someone to cheer him up and give him more self-confidence_.'

"Thank you so much. It was the best Christmas I ever had," Harry said gratefully, trying hard not to flinch as Heather carefully pulled him in a very light hug.

"I'm glad you liked your Christmas day," Heather said gently. "Sleep well, Harry."

As Heather stood up to tuck Ceridwen in, Helga sat on the edge of Harry's bed. "Good night, Leofost (little one). Sleep well." In a smaller voice, she added, "I'm looking forward to hear what you'll think of my book. You're the first to read it, but if you like it, I might want to copy it for our library at Hogwarts. So please tell me if you find anything strange or badly explained. Salazar told me that you're full of good ideas and surprises."

A huge smile spread over Harry's face at the unexpected praise. "I'll tell you if I notice anything. Thank you so much for allowing me to read your book first," he said happily, before he hesitantly asked, "Could I perhaps stay up a bit longer and read it?"

"No sweetie; I'm sorry, but you need to sleep. It's already much later than your usual bed time," Helga said sternly, pressing a light kiss against his forehead. "Good night, Leofost. As soon as you're up in the morning, you may read if you want."

"Okay," Harry mumbled, tiredly closing his eyes.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the winter holidays, Helga, Godric, Salazar and their siblings spent most of their days at Hogwarts, continuing the construction of the castle. Harry consequently helped Salazar to make the dungeons. After constructing a huge common room under the lake with a low ceiling and a fireplace in the middle of the room, they made small staircases leading up to fourteen dormitories that were situated so that one wall could be used to utilise Harry's idea of making the walls into windows looking into the lake. "I'd love to sleep in such a dormitory and watch the fish swim by when I go to sleep," Harry mused aloud, causing Salazar to chuckle.

"You merely have to see that you end up in my house," he replied, smirking. "I'm not sure if there are fish in here though. I only know that there are many magical animals. So far, I've seen a squid as well as lots of grindylows and mermaids. There might be fish of course. Maybe I will have my bedroom within the lake as well," he added as an afterthought.

Harry cast him a surprised look. "Err... Salazar, aren't your quarters at the other side of the castle?" he asked, incredulously.

"Well?" Salazar queried, quirking an eyebrow in apparent amusement. "Have you ever heard of magic? We can simply make a room here and connect the door in my quarters with the door of the bedroom here. That's easy to achieve."

"Are we going to decorate the rooms as well, or do you prefer to build all the other rooms in the dungeons first?" Harry asked, wondering what colours Salazar would want to decorate the dormitories.

"We're going to deal with the architectural work first," Salazar replied firmly. "However, we should set up torches on one side of the corridor, now that the main corridor is nearly finished."

"Oh cool; that'll be a lot of fun," Harry shouted in excitement. "What's the spell?"

Salazar smirked and taught him a spell. "However, I have to disappoint you, Thunderbolt. In order to place them in a regular distance, I'm just going to cast another spell that automatically makes them appear throughout the corridor at once," he explained and waved his wand, mumbling something that Harry couldn't understand. "I believe that's enough for today. Let's return to the entrance and see how the others are doing. Tomorrow, we'll try to build the Potions classroom."

"Wow, cool," Harry replied eagerly.

However, on the next day, Helga finally deemed Rowena well enough to accompany them to the castle, and since everyone had spent so much time working on their houses during her absence, Helga, Godric and Salazar decided to help building the Ravenclaw tower that day. Harry was a bit disappointed, because he had been looking forward to constructing the Potions classroom, and he also felt very self-conscious as he remembered that Rowena had fainted the last time she had seen him.

"Is everything all right, Leofost?" Helga asked softly, noticing that Harry was unusually quiet.

"Yes, but will Rowena be all right with me being there?" he asked in a barely audible voice.

"Of course, sweetie; that was not your fault; don't worry, you'll see, Rowena is a very kind witch," Helga said soothingly, causing Harry to relax just a little bit.

Before Harry could further dwell on the matter, Godric called him over. "Leo, come and help me construct the huge staircase," he instructed him, causing Harry to hesitantly walk over to the man. He would have preferred working together with Salazar, since he was already used to him and knew that Salazar was very funny in spite of knowing exactly what he was doing.

Before everyone could get to work, Godric opened a huge map, similar to the one of the dungeons that Salazar owned. "We need to have seven floors on each side of the huge staircase, and we should have two staircases, one for each direction, just to be sure," he said thoughtfully. "We also need special staircases to places that aren't connected by corridors."

"But Rowena said Ravenclaw would be a tower," Ceridwen threw in. "How are we going to get onto a tower just with seven stairs?"

Everyone laughed, and Helga explained gently, "the fourteen staircases are going to become the castle's main staircase. We'll have additional stairs at each part of the castle. According to our planning, in the end we're going to have more than one hundred staircases. Godric was merely talking about the fourteen huge main staircases as well as additional staircases leading to special spots. There should be at least thirty of them I suppose."

While Helga and Ceridwen busied themselves with the connecting floors, Salazar and Rowena as well as Salazar's and Godric's brothers used their magic to pull Ravenclaw tower up to its intended height.

' _Building staircases seems very boring_ ,' Harry mused, feeling slightly disappointed. However, Godric surprised him greatly. When they had erected the outline of nearly fifty staircases, so that they merely had to fill them with steps, he spoke up, sounding very mischievous, "Listen Leo, we're going to play a few pranks on everyone."

"That sounds like fun," Harry replied, throwing him an expectant look. "Shouldn't we fill the staircases with steps though, so that you don't have to apparate both of us all the time? It would be easier if we could just climb up and down."

Godric chuckled, pointing to a staircase. "Of course we'll do that, but don't you think staircases are boring? Let's say this one will lead to that point over there on the weekend, while that one will go here in the meantime."

Harry giggled, groaning inwardly at the same time. ' _I don't want to know what the others will say if he makes a mess out of the staircases_ ,' he mused, watching as Godric charmed the stairs. ' _Thank God they're only relatively small staircases, so they probably won't lead to important spots_.'

"All right then, now this one," Godric chuckled, waving his hand at another small staircase, "will vanish halfway up, so that people have to remember to jump up or down before it vanishes."

Harry stared at the Founder in disbelief. "Wouldn't it be better to make single steps vanish instead of a whole staircase?"

"All right, but I'll tell you now, we'll do that on the main staircases," Godric chuckled and proceeded to instruct Harry how to make steps.

For the rest of the day, the two wizards were busy making steps, and Godric charmed at least one step on each staircase to vanish all of a sudden. ' _Helga will be so angry_ ,' Harry mused, knowing that Helga was going to be the healer of the school and would have to treat all the students, who got hurt by the strange steps.

However, it was Rowena, who told Godric off when it was Harry of all people, who tripped on the staircase as he tiredly climbed down. "Godric, this is meant to be a school," she told him angrily. "Yes, I know that the students will be a few years older than Harry. Nevertheless, they might be tired after doing magic and attending classes the whole day."

"I'm sorry," Godric replied, unable to hide a smirk. "Leo, are you all right?"

"Yes," Harry replied in a small voice, absently rubbing his leg that he had hurt as he stumbled over the vanishing step.

"Show me your leg," Helga demanded and turned into healer's mode, quickly waving her hand over Harry's leg to cast a diagnostic spell, quickly followed by a healing spell. "Better now?" she asked softly, giving Harry a sharp look.

"Yes, it's better now; thank you, Helga," Harry said gratefully as he carefully climbed down the remaining stairs.

"We'll make sure..."

"... to never send our children to your school," Godric's brothers joked on the way back to Hogsmeade, and Harry noticed that they were wearing the same mischievous expressions as Godric.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The next day was New Year's Day, and to Harry's disappointment they could not go to the castle before the late afternoon. Godric and his brothers had to attend some kind of family event, Salazar had a hangover and had forgotten to brew himself a potion beforehand, and Rowena had spent a horrible night with visions of the future, probably triggered by meeting Harry the day before.

"I'm sorry, but I have to stay with Rowena until she feels better," Helga informed Ceridwen and Harry. "Maybe we can go to the castle later this afternoon. Why don't you read or paint for a while?"

"All right, come on, Harry, let's sit in front of the house and draw pictures of Hogsmeade," Ceridwen cheered, pulling her warm robes on.

As usual, Harry obeyed to the girl, and a few minutes later, the two six-year-olds were sitting on the street in front of the house, beginning to draw. ' _It's cold, but it's nice to sit out here, now that it isn't snowy anymore_ ,' Harry mused, leaning back against the wall and relaxing as he felt the warm sunrays play on his cheeks.

Two hours later, Helga crossed the street to fetch a phial for Rowena. Seeing the two children sitting there, completely engrossed in their drawings, she quietly stood behind the two, careful not to disturb them. However, when she glanced at the pictures, her eyes widened in shock as she took in what Harry had drawn so far.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think._


	5. Learning to forget

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

While both children had apparently drawn the same scene of the houses on the other side of the street with the lake and the walls of the castle in the background, Ceridwen had managed to capture the scene just as it was, and Helga realised that her sister was very adept at drawing. However, in Harry's picture, the houses were made of different material and had a slightly different style. What was bothering Helga most about Harry's drawing was the fact that Hogwarts was already complete and looked exactly like it was planned to look like once it was completed.

' _Don't let Harry be a Seer as well_ ,' Helga groaned inwardly and quickly hurried into the house, hoping that her mother was there, so that she could share her thoughts with her.

Heather listened patiently, before she thoughtfully replied, "If Harry is Rowena's heir like Rowena told you two weeks ago, he could have a bit of a Seer in him; however, it isn't necessarily as strong as with Rowena. Maybe he can see snap shots of things like Hogwarts at her completion or such, but I don't think we need to worry about anything more at this time. It could even be that he unconsciously remembers being at Hogwarts in the future. He told us that his parents died when he was a year old, didn't he? Maybe his parents took him to Hogwarts, and the memory is still somewhere hidden deep within his mind."

"That's true. Thank you, Mum." Helga sighed in relief and quickly gathered the phials which she needed for Rowena.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Over the following weeks, Helga and Heather observed Harry closely. He seemed to like painting, but so far, he did not show any more Seer abilities, and as the months passed, the two healers' concern slowly began to fade into non-existence. However, they all of a sudden noticed that Harry was suffering badly from different problems that were a direct result from his upbringing with his relatives.

Harry never made sounds during the night; however, one night when Helga checked on the children like she did every night before going to bed, she noticed that he was thrashing around violently and was completely entangled in his covers. ' _Maybe he is sick_ ,' she thought in concern. Sitting on the edge of his bed, she carefully laid her hand on the child's forehead, causing Harry to flinch badly away from the touch. The boy soundlessly began to whimper and move his lips as if he was talking. However, no sound left his mouth. ' _It's as if he was under a silencing charm_ ,' Helga mused, and although this thought seemed to be very unrealistic, she waved her hand over the small boy anyways, whispering, "Finite incantatem."

Instantly, Harry's whimpering could be heard, and he began to beg, "Please Uncle Vernon, don't hurt me. I promise to be good and to not do freaky things anymore. Please, don't..."

"Harry," Helga said softly, carefully laying her hand on his shoulder. "It's me, Helga. Wake up, sweetie; you're having a nightmare. Your uncle isn't here, and no one will harm you."

Harry slowly stirred under her soft touch and instantly began to panic. "I'm sorry. I'll be quiet now."

"Leofost," Helga sighed. "You don't have to be sorry, and you don't have to be quiet. I also want you to know that I don't want you to put a Silencing charm on yourself. I want to be able to hear when you're having a nightmare or are in distress. Don't do that again please."

Harry gave the woman, who had become his older sister, a confused look. "I'm sorry. What did I do?" he asked finally, causing Helga to slap her hand against her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Leofost; you're probably not aware of the fact, but you put a Silencing spell on yourself to prevent others from hearing you during the night. I understand now that you didn't do that intentionally. It's all right, Harry. Just remember that we want to hear if you're having problems, so that we can help you. All right?"

"Okay," Harry whispered, trying not to flinch back too badly, when Helga proceeded to slowly wipe a few errand strands of hair from his cheeks.

' _I'm not a healer for nothing_ ,' Helga thought as she unobtrusively cast a spell that would notify her immediately if Harry was under any kind of distress. "Will you tell me about your nightmare?" she asked kindly. "Was it about your uncle?"

"Yeah," Harry whispered miserably, still shaken by the nightmare. "I always had to be worse at school than Dudley in order not to anger my aunt and uncle, so I made many mistakes in my test. But the teacher scolded me for making so many mistakes. And suddenly, her hair turned blue, but it wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything. But she complained to my aunt and uncle, and my uncle..." He slowly trailed off, unsurely averting his eyes to his covers.

"He hurt you?" Helga quietly finished the unspoken thought, causing Harry to silently nod. "Harry, you're safe and sound here. No one will hurt you here, and you don't have to go back to your relatives if you don't want to. You may do as well in your classes as you can, and it doesn't matter at all if you're better or worse than Ceridwen. You know that, don't you?" Seeing Harry nod, she continued in her soft voice, "Each and every person has something he or she can do better than anyone else. While Ceridwen is very good at writing essays, I hear that you're excelling at Runes."

"I like runes," Harry said excitedly, and a small smile stole itself on his face. "I'd love to learn more about runes. Mrs. Ravenclaw said something about there being different kinds of runes, but she didn't explain it in much detail."

Helga smiled at the child. "Harry, for the other kids of your class, the normal runes are probably difficult enough, but if you're interested in learning more about runes, I'm sure Mrs. Ravenclaw would love to teach you. Rowena is very good at runes as well, and she'd also be willing to teach you. Shall I speak with them about it?"

Harry threw Helga a frightened look. "I'd love that, but I don't want to be a burden to them," he mumbled in a small voice, causing Helga to sigh.

"Harry, you're not a burden to anyone," Helga said firmly. "However, I suggest that we continue our conversation in the morning. You need to get some sleep."

"Okay," Harry agreed and slowly closed his eyes, feeling very reassured by Helga's kind words.

Helga remained on the edge of his bed, until she heard his breathing slowly even out. Then she once more returned to the living room to tell her parents about Harry's nightmare and her conversation with Harry.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Helga and Heather had a long conversation with Rowena and her mother, and the four witches agreed to wait until the summer, when Ceridwen and Harry would become seven, and then Helga would begin to give Ceridwen Healing classes, and Rowena would teach Harry Runes, in addition to their normal classes.

Over the following weeks, Harry often had nightmares and he still unconsciously applied Silencing charms to his bed, but the alarm which Helga had placed on him alerted her anytime he was suffering from nightmares. Helga always woke him up and spoke with him, until he was calm enough to be able to drift back to sleep, and she noticed happily that the small boy became more confident each time she would wake him up from a nightmare. Helga and Heather, who were very concerned about the abuse and neglect that Harry had suffered at his relatives' house, sighed in relief that his nightmares slowly became fewer and that he gradually became used to being touched by either of them.

Harry happily accepted the fact that he was allowed and welcome to learn and read as much as he wanted. Ceridwen and Harry were both very diligent, and Harry caught up with the other pupils of their class quickly. They always finished their homework immediately after class and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the other children on the street, whenever the weather allowed it. Harry often sat aside from the group and painted his friends playing. To his foster family's relief, most of his pictures displayed current scenes. Only very seldom did he paint pictures displaying scenes that were obviously from the future.

After dinner, they continued to accompany Helga and her friends to Hogwarts, and the walls of the castle slowly became bigger, and Helga and Rowena observed contentedly how happy Harry seemed to be whenever he was allowed to help them build the castle.

However, many of the things Harry had heard and experienced at his relatives' home were still firmly present in his mind, and it was difficult to make him believe that he was being loved by his new family and that he wasn't a burden to anyone.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

One day, Harry woke up with a sore throat. ' _Oh no_ ,' he thought, terrified. ' _I hope that I won't get sick. Otherwise, they'll notice that I'm a burden, and they'll surely not want me anymore and me send me back to the Dursleys_.' He forced his breakfast down in order not to let his family know that he was feeling sick, and due to Ceridwen's excited talking about the potion Mrs. Slytherin had promised to teach them to brew that day, all the attention was drawn to her and no one realised that Harry was not exactly his usual cheery self that morning.

Unfortunately, during his runes class, his head began to hurt badly, and by the time they headed to Mrs. Slytherin's house, he felt very cold and dizzy and wished nothing more than to lie down and close his achy eyes.

Apparently noticing that Harry uncharacteristically stared into space, while his classmates were eagerly preparing their ingredients, Mrs. Slytherin quietly motioned for him to follow her into the living room. She made him sit down and gently laid a cool hand on his forehead, before she said softly, "Harry, you're ill. Go home and tell your Mum that I sent you. Do you want Ceridwen to accompany you?"

"No," Harry replied quickly as his aunt's words popped up in his head. ' _I don't care if you're sick as long as you do your chores. But if you get Dudley sick, Vernon is going to deal with you_.' Harry still remembered well how his uncle dealt with him when Dudley showed first signs of Harry's illness.

Harry quietly left the Slytherins' house, but instead of heading home, he slowly walked to the castle, his aunt's words still echoing in his mind. He slowly trailed down the stairs towards the dungeons, thinking of the Slytherin dormitories, which Salazar and he had finished a few weeks ago. While he was holding on to the wall to wait for a bout of dizziness to pass, a soft voice penetrated his ears.

"Hello Harry, where are you going?"

It was a high, childish voice, which Harry recognised immediately. "You're Hogwarts, aren't you?" he asked hoarsely, only now realising that he was holding on to the wall. "You sound older than the last time."

"Yeah," the castle chuckled. "I'm not a baby anymore. I'm a big child now. What are you doing here at this time of the day and all on your own?"

"I just want to take a nap in one of the dormitories in the dungeons," Harry admitted in a small voice. "I don't feel so well today." Somehow, he felt comfortable enough to admit his problem to the castle.

"Don't worry," Hogwarts replied in her soft voice, "I'll keep you safe. I won't let anyone in, who doesn't belong here. Put your hand on me again when you reach the spot where you want to rest."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully and slowly continued his walk to the dungeon dorms. When he reached the first dormitory, he hesitantly stepped inside and was just about to lie down in front of the window that looked out into the lake, when he remembered Hogwarts' instruction and put his hand on the nearby wall.

"Give me a second," the castle chuckled happily, and to Harry's surprise, something green emerged from the wall just above the floor.

Harry eyed the thing in confusion, before he realised that it was very soft stone that felt like a mattress like the one on his bed at home. It was large enough for him to comfortably lie down. "Thank you so much," he said gratefully, sighing in relief as his achy head hit the soft stone.

"You're welcome," the castle chuckled. "Now get some rest and feel better soon. That's the least I can do for you. You've been doing a great job building my walls and rooms so far. I'm very proud of you."

A small smile was playing on Harry's lips as he slowly drifted off to sleep, his right hand still touching the wall.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Helga and Heather were beside themselves with worry when Ceridwen returned home alone, telling them that Mrs. Slytherin had sent Harry home hours ago because he was sick. Helga talked to the parents of her friends, who had been teaching the children that morning, but everyone could only confirm that he had been unusually quiet that day, and no one had seen him after Mrs. Slytherin had sent him home.

"Maybe he went to Hogwarts," Heather suggested to Helga in a quiet voice. "His aunt probably didn't take it well when he was sick, and now he's hiding from us because he expects us to react in the same way."

"He should know better by now," Helga replied, sighing, although she had to admit that her mother was probably right. Together with Ceridwen, she hurried to the castle, knowing that the only way to find him if he was hiding inside was to ask Hogwarts if she had seen him.

Sensing that they didn't want to harm but only help the child, the castle gently led them to the Slytherin dormitories, where Harry was still peacefully asleep. He only woke up when he was safely tucked into his bed at home. During the next few days, Helga kept him in bed, and she and Heather took turns staying with him and looking after him. After hearing what his aunt had told him about being sick, they did their best to reassure him over and over that he wasn't a burden to them and that he had to tell them if he needed their help.

Over the following weeks, Heather and Helga observed contentedly that Harry seemed to slowly push all the thoughts of the Dursleys away. Only once in a while did the alarm spell alert Helga that he was in distress during the night, he became used to their kind touches and hugs and even began to timidly return them, and he sometimes even hesitantly told them when he didn't feel well or otherwise needed help.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

By the time the summer began, the walls of Hogwarts were nearly finished, and one day, Godric invited his friends as well as Ceridwen and Harry into the newly finished headmaster's office. Harry slowly stood on the staircase, observing in amazement as it moved up to the office on its own accord. ' _I prefer this to the pranking staircases_ ,' he mused as he entered the office behind Ceridwen and stopped dead in his tracks. ' _This is fantastic_ ,' he thought, letting his eyes wandering around the round office in amazement that even intensified when Godric showed his friends several charms that were placed on his office, revealing hidden rooms and even corridors that lead all over the castle.

From then onwards, the friends began to make it a habit to meet in the headmaster's office after working on the castle. Together, they had a cup of tea and explained to the others what they had been doing during the evening. One day, Godric turned to Harry.

"Leo, you still need to give us an explanation. Where do you come from? You arrived here all of a sudden out of nowhere."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him in curious expectation, Harry hesitantly began to tell the others about the book that had brought him one thousand years into the past.

"Nice story," Severus Slytherin, one of Salazar's brothers, sneered in apparent disbelief, causing Harry to shyly avert his eyes to the floor.

"Just so you know, Severus. Harry is not one to tell false stories. I've seen that book, and everything he said is absolutely true," Helga threw in, glaring at Salazar's brother.

"Really?" Godric asked in surprise. "You came from the future? Does Hogwarts still exist one thousand years in the future?"

"I don't know," Harry replied uncertainly. "I lived with my muggle relatives."

"Don't tell us you're muggle born," Severus sneered again, causing Salazar to throw his brother an angry look.

"Shut up, Sev. Whatever Harry is, he is extremely powerful in spite of his young age. Leave him alone, and forget your pureblood supremacy," Salazar growled at his brother.

"Harry is my heir," Rowena threw in firmly, "Godric's and mine."

"Can you prove it?" Severus queried, raising an eyebrow at the Seer.

"Probably yes," Godric threw in and waved his hand over an empty parchment in a complicated movement, before he turned to Harry. "Now Leo, place your hand here," he instructed the boy, who hesitantly complied.

Instantly, thin lines began to appear on the parchment, reaching from their own time to the time in which Harry was born. The adults leaned over the map, following the lines with interest, until Godric blurted out, "Leo is indeed Rowena's and my heir. But what's that?" He pointed to another, fainter line in confusion, causing everyone to gasp.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think._


	6. Getting ready

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"He is somehow connected to me as well?" Severus Slytherin asked in disbelief. "But it's hardly visible anyway. What does that mean?"

"That's true," Godric said in confusion, while Rowena suddenly gripped her head in pain, before she relaxed and glared at the younger Slytherin.

"You'll know in time, Severus. I suggest that you behave towards Harry. By the way, Godric, now that your office is done, I expect you to help me with the Pensieve."

"We'll do that, Rowena, and there's also something else we need to do," Godric replied smirking.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

It still took a whole year of preparations, but during the summer when Ceridwen and Harry turned eight, the four founders moved into the castle and eagerly readied Hogwarts and themselves for the first students that were going to arrive on the first of September.

One day, shortly before Harry's birthday, Ceridwen and Harry were sitting in front of their parents' house. Ceridwen was painting a picture, while Harry worked on a Runes essay for his private class with Mrs. Ravenclaw.

"Harry," Ceridwen asked suddenly, carefully as to not startle the boy. "You've been looking into space now for ages. Are you getting sick again, or are you all right?"

"Ah," Harry replied, startled. "I'm fine; it's just... Don't you miss Helga? I mean... I know that she has to stay at the castle when the students arrive, but still... Don't misunderstand me. You and your parents, you're a wonderful family, and I couldn't have wished for a better, but..."

"I understand, Harry. You're right," Ceridwen replied sadly. "I miss her terribly. If we could at least go to the castle in the evenings like we did before it was completed." The two children remained pensive for a while, before Ceridwen interrupted the quiet. "Should we ask Mum if we can go and visit Helga?"

"Do you think she'll let us go on our own?" Harry asked doubtfully but obediently collected his books and supplies he had been using to complete his Runes essay and followed the girl into the house.

After long discussions between Helga, her parents and her friends, the Founders worked on the wards around the castle to protect the Hogwarts grounds from an intrusion from the forest like they had done earlier with the Hogsmeade side, and finally declared the area safe enough not only for the students but also for the smaller children.

"Why don't we just allow the small ones to attend classes? They helped so much with the building of Hogwarts that they belong to her just like we do, and I think we've all seen how powerful they are, especially Harry," Godric suggested one day.

Rowena and Helga immediately agreed, trusting that it would be exactly what Helga's younger sister and Rowena's heir wanted and needed at this stage. However, everyone looked at Salazar, knowing that he was not one to easily agree.

"Since they're not eleven yet, they can't hold a wand like all their classmates, and even if they're used to casting wandless magic by now, it'll still be difficult for Thunderbolt and Chatterbox."

Helga cleared her throat. "Don't forget that it's my sister you're calling 'Chatterbox'," she said in a mocked angry tone, causing Salazar to smirk.

"Oh Helga dearest, let's just say yes and end this meeting, so we can go on a date," Salazar replied, gently pulling her into his arms.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

From the beginning of the school year onwards, Ceridwen and Harry were allowed to attend classes at Hogwarts. However, in contrast to the normal students, they stayed at home and walked up to the castle in the morning and back home in time for dinner.

In the beginning, the founders divided the students into four classes according to their age. The first-year class held ten students of the age from eleven to twelve, the second-year class had five students from the age of thirteen and fourteen, the third-year class, which was the OWL class, had five students, and the fourth class for the sixteen and seventeen-year-old students that ended with the NEWTs had five students.

Glad that they had been allowed to attend the welcoming feast, Ceridwen and Harry observed from the head table how the Sorting Hat, a well-worn hat that Godric had, in which he had placed a series of complicated charms, greeted the students and sorted them into their respective houses, eight of them into Gryffindor, seven into Slytherin and five each into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Will we be sorted too?" Harry whispered to Helga, who was sitting next to him, in concern.

"No Leofost; you'll only be sorted when you officially enter Hogwarts after you turn eleven," his older sister replied calmingly.

"Thank Merlin," Harry whispered back. "Is there any method to make sure the Hat puts me in your house?"

"Oh Harry, you're so sweet," Helga replied softly, lightly hugging the child. "Leofost, I don't think you can talk the Hat into putting you into a certain house. He is charmed to look into your mind and assess, which house fits your character the most. Don't worry, Harry. You'll do great in whatever house you are placed."

"I'm going to be in Hufflepuff too," Ceridwen announced firmly. "How could I not, considering that it's my name?"

Ceridwen and Harry could not wait for the classes to begin. To their surprise, they had more subjects than they had been taught in their previous classes, which the rest of their friends were still attending. Godric taught the students Transfiguration, Sword Fighting and Horseback riding, Salazar taught Potions, Occlumency and Legilimency, Rowena taught Charms, Divination and Runes, and Helga was responsible for Healing and History of Magic.

The two eight-year-olds soon noticed that the age restriction at Hogwarts that normally did not allow children under eleven to attend the school had a reason. The older students' magic was much stronger than their own, and even if they had not completely believed Helga's explanation and warnings about the matter, they realised that it seemed to be much easier for the older students in their class to cast the required spells. Fortunately, they were able to practise at home every evening, and Heather and Heath did their best to help the two children with their homework and their spells.

Runes was still Harry's favourite subject, while Ceridwen loved Healing most, just like her older sister, who turned out to be a very good teacher.

During the following months, Ceridwen and Harry became good friends with all of their classmates, and both of them were really disappointed to see the school year end and everyone return home for the summer holidays. While they had spent the school year eating lunch at the different house-tables, sometimes even breakfast when Heather allowed them to leave early enough, they decided to attend the leaving feast sitting at the head table in order not to have to listen to everyone making plans for the holidays.

"Ceridwen and Harry," Helga suddenly spoke up. "Rowena and I thought about a lesson plan for the holidays for the two of you. We'd still love to teach you Healing and Runes, and Godric and Rowena offered to additionally teach you the Animagus transformation in case you're interested."

"Wow, of course," the two children blurted out simultaneously. "Thank you, Rowena and Godric!"

"You can also make yourselves useful," Salazar grumbled, causing everyone to focus curious looks in his direction. "I'd love to add a few secret passages to the castle, which I only want ourselves to know, not the students, and I believe that Harry is already very adept at making passages. We have several of them in the dungeons."

"Oh, I'd love to help add more secret passages to the castle," Harry replied in excitement. "I love talking with Hogwarts. She is so sweet."

Everyone chuckled at his comment, before Godric said thoughtfully, "Sal, that's a brilliant idea. I have several requests for passages, which I'd like to have built, and maybe Helga and Rowena will come up with some ideas as well."

"Helga," Ceridwen spoke up, pleadingly, "would it perhaps be possible for Harry and me to stay in the castle over the holidays, so we don't have to go home in the evening and come back in the morning? We could be so much more efficient, if we were allowed to remain here."

Everyone laughed as Harry eagerly nodded his consent. "I'll accompany you home tonight and ask Mum and Dad about their thoughts about it," Helga promised, chuckling.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

To Ceridwen's and Harry's pleasure, they were allowed to remain at Hogwarts over the holidays. Helga asked the castle to add two guest rooms to her quarters for Ceridwen and Harry to stay in, and the castle readily complied. ' _Wow_ ,' Harry thought in amazement as he glanced around the small room that held a comfortable looking bed, a desk with two chairs, a wardrobe and a bookshelf. A magical window showed the view onto the lake and Hogsmeade. He could even see his foster parents' house. ' _A whole room just for me? How cool is that?_ ' he thought and touched the wall to thank the castle for making such a wonderful room for him.

"I only made the walls; Professors Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prepared everything else for you," Hogwarts replied gently, causing Harry to gasp.

"Wow, your voice sounds much different from the last time I talked with you," Harry replied in amazement.

Hogwarts chuckled. "I know you were very busy during the school year. Nevertheless, you should talk to me more frequently. You're aware of the fact that you and Ceridwen are the only ones able to speak with me apart from the four founders, aren't you?"

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise. "I'm sorry; I didn't know that, but I promise to speak with you more often." And Harry kept his promise. From that time onwards, he made it a habit to converse with the castle at least once a day, and he had to admit to himself that he really enjoyed their little chats.

"The Animagus Transformation is very difficult, and not every wizard and witch manages to transform into an animal," Rowena explained patiently. "First of all, you need to decide what animal you want to transform into. Do you already have an idea?"

"I'd love to change into a kitten," Ceridwen blurted out. "Do you think that'll be very difficult?"

"Any Transformation is difficult, sweetie," Rowena said gently, "but I don't see a reason why you shouldn't be able to manage that sooner or later.

"Hmmm, I'd like to change into a magical animal. It would be great if Ceridwen and I were able to talk even in our Animagus forms," Harry replied unsurely, throwing Rowena a questioning look.

"A magical animal that's able to communicate with a cat?" Rowena remained thoughtful for a moment, before she replied, "That would be either a magical lynx or a griffin, whereby a griffin would surely be the more interesting form due to its wings and the ability to fly; however, it will certainly be much more difficult to achieve."

"I'll try," Harry decided excitedly. "What do I have to do to try though?"

Rowena chuckled. "At first, you have to imagine the animal you want to become. Then you imagine your left hand to be the left front paw, wing or whatever your animal has instead of your arm. In fact, that's the most difficult part of the whole Animagus transformation, and it can take several years until you'll be able to change your left hand."

Harry and Ceridwen spent the following two months with Animagus practice as well as Runes and Healing classes in the morning, assisting Salazar with the secret passages that lead all over the castle in the afternoon.

However, as much as Harry practised attempting to transform his left hand, by the end of the holidays he had not even made the slightest bit of progress. It was a year later that Ceridwen spotted very light brown fur on her left hand and Harry felt his left hand stretch and soften slightly as if it was on the verge of changing into the pad of a paw.

"Congratulations; that's a huge success," Rowena gently commended the two friends. "Now it won't take much longer. By Christmas, I believe you'll both be able to transform completely."

As usual, Rowena's prediction was correct, and on the third day of the winter holidays, Ceridwen managed to completely transform into a tabby cat. Unbeknownst to the adults, Harry spent the whole night trying, and in the morning of Christmas Eve, a griffin was slowly practising to walk on its four paws in the living room of Helga's quarters, accompanied by a small tabby cat that was chuckling and meowing at his clumsy efforts to keep himself on his feet.

"Such wonderful Animagus forms," Heather commended Harry and Ceridwen, when the founders' parents came to spend Christmas at Hogwarts. "I'm very proud of you both for such an accomplishment that many grown wizards and witches have spent many years trying to do and still can't manage to do."

"It's very difficult to walk on these feet though, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to fly," Harry said as he transformed back in his human form.

"You'll get used to it. I know someone else who had problems walking last night," Helga chuckled, glancing at Ceridwen. "Rowena is a raven Animagus, and I'm sure she will be able to help you learn to fly."

' _I wonder why everyone agreed to spend Christmas at Hogwarts_ ,' Harry mused, noticing that not only his own foster parents but also the parents and siblings of the other Founders were spending Christmas at the castle.

"I have no idea," Ceridwen replied when Harry asked her. "I was wondering myself, because they didn't do it last year or the year before."

The two ten-year-olds did not have to wait long to find out. At Christmas dinner, Helga and Salazar as well as Rowena and Godric publicized their double engagement and announced they were going to hold a double wedding on the first of August next summer.

' _Wow, that's too cool. I've never seen a wedding before, and seeing two pairs getting married at once must be wicked_ ,' Harry thought, exchanging an excited look with Ceridwen. "I can't wait for the summer to come," he whispered on their way back to the Hufflepuff quarters, causing the girl to chuckle.

"Time is passing by so quickly anyway. I can't believe this is already our third year at Hogwarts. What are we going to do here next year when we're eleven and supposed to be a first year, will we have to start over again?" Ceridwen asked in apparent concern.

Harry groaned. "I have no idea. I just hope they'll think of something that'll make it at least a little bit interesting for us."

The founders indeed thought of something, although Harry was not very pleased to hear the result. It was a warm spring day at the end of May, when Helga addressed Ceridwen and Harry, who were eating lunch at the Slytherin table.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Hufflepuff, please come to the headmaster's office for a moment."

The two third years gave the teacher a questioning look; however, the professor returned to the head table without further ado, leaving the children to wonder what was wrong.

To their surprise, Rowena was the one who spoke up first. "Harry," she began in a soft voice. "Even if I haven't shown you anything so far, you probably know from our conversations that I've had many visions about you and the future."

"Yes," Harry said timidly, fidgeting in his seat.

"Harry, you're a very important person in the future. You're the saviour of the wizarding world. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that you return to the future for the next school year. You must attend your first Hogwarts year in the year 1991."

' _They're already fed up with me, and now they want to get rid of me by sending me back_ ,' Harry thought in shock.

"I'll go with him," Ceridwen threw in heatedly, noticing that Harry silently began to cry.

"Harry, you can come back here during the holidays," Helga said gently, pulling him in a bear hug. "Let's speak with Mum and Dad about the matter, and if they don't mind, Ceridwen can accompany you, so that you can attend Hogwarts together in the future, provided that you come back home for Christmas and summer holidays."

"Really?" Harry asked in a small voice, throwing Ceridwen a teary-eyed look.

"Of course," she replied pleasantly. "We'll have so much fun in the future. Just think about it. No one except for us will know all the secrets of the castle. We'll be the only ones, who can talk to her and who know all about the secret passages we made last year." She chuckled in anticipation of the fun they were going to have.

Fortunately, Heather and Heath grudgingly agreed to let Ceridwen go with Harry; however, they instructed both children firmly to return at the beginning of the Christmas and summer holidays.

"How am I supposed to arrive at exactly the right place and time?" Harry asked Helga during the summer holidays, placing the book on the table in the living room of her quarters.

Helga quickly skimmed the book. "Here, there is only a picture of Hogsmeade of 1960, but I believe Dad said you could simply add pictures to the book. Harry, you're so good at drawing; why don't you draw a picture of your room in my quarters and write a date on the parchment." She thought for a moment. "It should be the first of September, 1991."

Harry complied and painted a picture of his room, including the view onto the lake and his foster parents' house. Unfortunately, due to all the excitement all over the castle that was full of people celebrating the huge double wedding, no one noticed that Harry wrote the figures on his picture in a slightly wrong sequence. In the morning of the first of September, Ceridwen and Harry held hands, while they firmly pressed their free hands on Harry's picture, which Godric had kindly attached to the book for them.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think._


	7. Book travel

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

As soon as Ceridwen and Harry touched the painting in the book, they felt a small whirlwind begin whipping around them. It became stronger and stronger, and they could not see anything, until it calmed down again. Harry just sensed the wind stop when he felt a sharp pain in his head, and the world turned completely black. By the time his mind regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the floor of his own room in Helga's quarters. Ceridwen was leaning over him, staring at him in concern.

"Harry, are you all right? You hit your head against the corner of the wardrobe," she informed him excitedly.

"My head," Harry moaned. "It hurts. Thank Merlin we arrived in my room. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Harry. Be careful. Don't move your head; you probably have a concussion, considering that you lost consciousness." She carefully cast a simple healing spell and sighed. "Yes Harry, you have a concussion. Stay where you are for the time being." She fetched his pillow from the bed and very carefully lifted his head just enough to slide the pillow underneath, before she covered him with the blanket and glanced at the charmed display of time at the ceiling. "1:30 a.m.," she read. "That means that we're either late, or we still have lots of time. Stay here and wait for a moment. Don't fall asleep. Let me see if anyone is around in our quarters, or if I can find any potions that will help you. Otherwise, I'm going to search for someone to help us. Do you think the hospital room will still be at the same place where it was one thousand years ago?"

"I have no idea," Harry mumbled, "but you can ask the castle. Sorry, I'm going to be sick."

Ceridwen hurriedly conjured a bucket and carefully helped Harry lean over as his stomach decided to get rid of its contents. Only when he seemed to feel better and was calmly lying down again, she finally left the room after once more instructing Harry to stay awake. She went into her own room, noticing that it looked a bit different from before; however, she could still recognise that it was her own room, and she loved the slightly modern touch the room had. The other rooms looked slightly different as well; however, no one seemed to be living there at the moment. In the bathroom, she found a few phials with potions; however, there was nothing Harry needed at the moment, and since she did not know how old the potions were anyway, she decided to go and look for the hospital room.

Returning to Harry's room to check on him before she left, she laid her hand on the wall. "Hello Hogwarts. Can you hear me?"

"Ceridwen," the castle replied sleepily, sounding much older than in the past. "I'm glad to have the two of you back. You arrived at a strange time though. What happened?"

"We were supposed to come here on the first of September 1991," Ceridwen replied in surprise. "I know that it's the middle of the night, but we couldn't time it better."

Hogwarts chuckled. "Today is not the first of September, dear. It's the ninth of January, 1991," she informed the young witch in a soft voice.

Ceridwen looked at the book that was still open on the floor next to Harry. "Oh my, Harry wrote the numbers in a wrong sequence, and no one noticed," she realised in exasperation. "Hogwarts, what should we do now?"

"What?" Harry asked, sleepily.

"Ceridwen," Hogwarts spoke up thoughtfully. "You can either go to the hospital wing, which is still at the same place as before. However, the healer would probably call the headmaster, and if you want to keep your presence here a secret for the time being, I wouldn't recommend it. He was the one, who sent Harry to his relatives, at least as far as I know from the conversations which I overheard in his office."

"Ah all right then; what else can I do?" Ceridwen asked impatiently.

"In the living room is a picture of Helga, Salazar, Rowena and Godric. Speak with Salazar. His portrait is guarding the door to the private quarters of the Slytherin head of house, Professor Snape. Ask Salazar to fetch Professor Snape. He is the Potions master and will certainly be able to help Harry. He is also related to Salazar, because he is the many times great grandson of Severus Slytherin."

"Thank you, Hogwarts," Ceridwen shouted and dashed away. She stood in front of the painting that held the four founders. "Salazar, wake up quickly," she shouted and hurriedly told her brother-in-law what had happened.

"Ceridwen, you must keep Harry awake," Helga said sternly, shooing Salazar away. "Go and inform your portrait, Sal."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Severus Snape was sitting at his desk, grading essays, a task, which he absolutely detested. All of a sudden, he heard through the open door to his private quarters that the portrait of Salazar Slytherin seemed to be talking to him. Severus groaned in annoyance. ' _What's wrong now?_ ' he thought. ' _If it's not Albus or the dunderheads, it's the most annoying portrait on the face of the earth that disturbs me_.'

"What happened?" he asked, stepping over into the living room.

"There are two time travellers," Salazar informed him, "in fact it's my sister-in-law and her foster brother. They just arrived from the past, and they need your help. Can you go to my wife's and my quarters, please? It's behind the portrait of the four of us, which you'll find if you walk down the corridor in front of the hospital wing. I'll instruct my sister-in-law to open the door for you."

' _What the f..._ ,' Severus thought and grudgingly agreed, shaking his head in annoyance as he strode through the halls that were thankfully as deserted as they were supposed to be at that time of the night. ' _Oh well, I'm certainly going to enjoy my birthday right from the beginning,'_ he thought to himself in sarcasm.

"You must be Professor Snape. I am Ceridwen Hufflepuff. I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of the night," Ceridwen greeted him politely.

"That's all right. I hope you'll give me an adequate explanation," Severus sneered, raising an eyebrow at the girl who was dressed in strange clothes.

' _Oh well, Salazar said they were time-travellers from his own time,'_ he recalled.

"Of course. Please come in, Professor." Ceridwen motioned for the professor to take a seat on the sofa in the living room and told him everything about Harry's time travel, their life in the past and that Rowena had instructed them to come to the future because of the visions she had seen.

"Harry Potter?" Severus asked in surprise, trying to keep his feelings of absolute annoyance to himself. "Everyone here assumes that he is living with his relatives."

"He's in his room. He hit his head badly when we arrived here, and he has a concussion. Unfortunately, the potions I could find in my sister's bathroom are all very old, and I'm not as adept as Harry at brewing. Could you give him a potion please?"

"Show me to his room," Severus instructed the girl. He could not help feeling impressed by her thoughtfulness. ' _If all our first-year students were as alert, it would be more fun to teach Potions_ ,' he thought as he followed Ceridwen into Harry's room.

"Mr. Potter," he greeted the boy, who to his surprise was quietly talking to an old woman, who seemed to be invisible.

"Hogwarts, Professor Snape is here now. I'll talk to you later. Thank you for keeping me awake," the child said and removed his right hand from the wall, before he greeted the professor.

"Excuse me," Severus asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Both of us helped my sister and her friends to build Hogwarts; therefore, we're able to speak with her by touching her walls. Please keep this a secret just like our presence here at the moment."

"I will," Severus said in confusion and waved his wand over the boy. "Mr. Potter, your friend was right, and you indeed have a concussion. Normally, I would take you to Madam Pomfrey, our healer; however, since no one is supposed to know about your presence here, I suggest that you remain here in your own room for the time being." He carefully levitated Harry onto the bed, before he called Cicero, his personal house-elf.

"Good evening, Master Severus," the elf said, bowing slightly.

"Fetch me a few phials of the potion for concussion," Severus instructed the elf, who popped away and back within seconds. "Since I don't want you to move your head, I will spell the potion straight into your system," he informed the boy, as he once more waved his wand.

"Thank you so much," Harry replied gratefully. "That's much better."

"You still mustn't move your head, Harry," Ceridwen admonished him firmly. "Professor, thank you so much for coming and helping us. When will he need his next dose of the potion, sir? In six hours?"

The Potions Master smirked. "You seem to know a lot about Healing. Do you by chance know any diagnostic spells?"

"Yes sir," Ceridwen replied eagerly. "We attended classes at Hogwarts in the past, from the time when we were eight, and I took Healing classes from the beginning. I know the simple diagnostic spell, I can take a temperature, and I know a few easy Healing spells, but I'm not allowed to use them on other students yet, and I can't spell a potion into someone."

"Very well then. Give him his next dose of the potion in six hours. If he gets a fever or feels worse, tell Salazar to call me," Severus instructed Ceridwen. "I'll come and check on you again in the morning."

"Thank you so much. I will tell my sister and her friends in the painting at the entrance to let you in," Ceridwen said gratefully, causing the Potions master to slightly incline his head.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Professor Snape kept Harry in bed for three days, before he allowed him to get up, provided that he did not use any magic.

"Thank you very much for your help, sir, and for keeping our secret," Harry said gratefully.

"Now, I suggest that the two of you answer a few questions for me," Severus said thoughtfully, motioning for the two children to take seats in the living room. "What exactly is this book which you used to time travel?"

"I'll get it," Harry said, but Ceridwen was faster and fetched the book for him. Harry thanked her and explained to the Potions master how he had found it in a muggle bookshop and had unconsciously used it for the first time. He also showed the teacher the picture he painted. "I don't know how I could write the wrong date on the parchment," he added, blushing slightly.

"You don't have to be ashamed, Harry," Ceridwen spoke up. "You drew that very well. We arrived at the right place, and it could have been much worse if you had sent us to a different year, far into the past or the future."

"Exactly," Severus agreed. "Nevertheless, I suggest that you change the numbers on your parchment and travel another seven months into the future. However, I believe that we have to clarify a few things beforehand." Seeing the children look at him in confusion, he elaborated, "On your eleventh birthday, your Hogwarts letter will be sent out, and you need to reply to it. I can ask Cicero, my house-elf, to divert your letter to me and then send out a reply, which you need to write and give to me before you leave. We also need to buy the school supplies for both of you. Do you have a wand?"

Ceridwen and Harry shook their heads, and Severus continued, "Then we also have to buy wands for you, and we have to somehow deal with the Dursleys in case the headmaster or someone else goes there to give you your Hogwarts letter personally or take you shopping in the summer."

"Oh," Harry said in surprise.

"Another matter we need to think about is how to explain your presence here, Ms. Hufflepuff. Shall we inform the headmaster about your time travel? Or do you want to pretend that you came from the past alone? In any case, we need to make a detailed plan."

"Professor, thank you so much for helping us," Ceridwen said gratefully. "We..."

"Sorry Ceridwen; Professor, do you know how to make a genealogic parchment? I'm sorry; I don't know exactly how it's called. But you look like the spitting image of Severus Slytherin, Salazar's brother, and if you're really a descendant from him, maybe you could just introduce Ceridwen as your relative or such?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"That would be a possibility," Severus said thoughtfully. He conjured a parchment and pointed his wand at it, mumbling an incantation, before he magically extracted one drop of blood from the small finger of his right hand and carefully let it drop onto the parchment.

Small blue lines spread over the parchment, beginning with Severus at the bottom and leading upwards to the origin of the Slytherin line. "Severus Slytherin, indeed," Severus stated, pointing to a name on the parchment. "This means that you're my sister-in-law, Ms. Hufflepuff." He remained pensive for a moment, before he finally said, "I suggest telling people that you were my cousin's child and that your parents made me your guardian when they travelled abroad or died, whatever is more comfortable with you."

"That's a good idea," Ceridwen said warmly. "However, wouldn't it be strange if I showed up exactly on the first of September, sir?"

"If you prepare a reply to your Hogwarts letter as well, it would suffice if I told the Headmaster about you and enrolled you for the next school year. I need your complete name and your date of birth in order to stay as close to the truth as possible."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the next few days, Severus and the two children planned everything in detail. On Saturday morning, while the whole school was attending the Quidditch match Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, Severus took the children to Diagon Alley to buy their wands and robes. They also made a trip to Gringotts, where Ceridwen and Harry gained access to their ancestors' vaults.

"When you arrive at Hogwarts at the beginning of the school year, I will teach you how to place an owl order," Severus promised. "For the time being, I will order your school books and everything else you'll need for the beginning of the school year. The sooner we leave the better, in order not to be seen."

Back at Hogwarts, Ceridwen and Harry prepared themselves to leave for the first of September. With Severus' help, Harry had corrected the date in the book, and the two children just reached out for the picture, when Harry suddenly drew his hand back and asked, "Professor, do you have any idea how we could prevent ourselves from hitting our heads when we arrive next time?"

Severus smirked and cast a cushioning charm at the two children and instructed them to contact him through Salazar when they arrived.

Finally, Ceridwen and Harry took each other's hands and firmly pressed their other hands on the picture in the book. Immediately, they felt a familiar whirlwind begin that became stronger and stronger, until it calmed down again.

"Harry, are you all right?" Ceridwen asked in concern, giving him a sharp look.

"Yes, and you?" Harry replied, smirking as he scrambled up from the floor. "Thank Merlin for the cushioning charm. We need to remember that we always need to cast it on each other, before we travel with the book."

"That's true," Ceridwen agreed, looking at the time display. "4:30 p.m.," she read, "that's not bad. We should have a few hours left, before the Sorting is going to begin, provided that it's still the same in this time."

"Oh well, let's ask Salazar to tell Professor Snape that we're here," Harry suggested, heading out into the living room, where he found all of their school books neatly piled on the table.

"Let me tell you something. Arriving at the wrong time the last time was the best thing that could happen to us," Ceridwen said, chuckling. "Imagine we had arrived here today in the first place. We wouldn't have had any of our school books, nor proper robes or our wands."

"And thank Merlin that we met Professor Snape. He's really nice," Harry replied, absentmindedly skimming his Potions book. He looked up, startled, when the door opened and Professor Snape entered their quarters.

"Congratulations for managing to arrive on the right day," the teacher greeted them, smirking, causing Harry to roll his eyes, while he felt his cheeks turn pink.

"Thank you, Professor, for everything," Ceridwen replied softly.

"You're welcome. Thankfully, the headmaster doesn't suspect anything. Now, I suggest that you accompany me to Hogsmeade, where you can unobtrusively mix in with the other first years and ride the boats back to the castle," Severus told them.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Ceridwen and Harry enjoyed the trip with the boats immensely, resolving to tell Helga all about them, as soon as they returned home the next time. They sat together with a muggle born girl with bushy brown hair and a shy boy, who was constantly looking for his toad. Both of them seemed to be very nice, and the four first years talked animatedly when they followed Professor McGonagall and their new classmates into the Great Hall.

' _Wow, this doesn't look so much different from how it looked in the past_ ,' Harry mused, sceptically eyeing the Sorting Hat. ' _I hope it'll sort me together with Ceridwen, Hermione and Neville_.' However, his hopes were destroyed quickly when Ceridwen and their two new friends ended up in three different houses.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think._


	8. The Sorting

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"Potter, Harry," Professor McGonagall finally called his name, and Harry quickly made his way to the stool and took a seat, suddenly feeling very excited.

' _Oh, it's you. Another time traveller. How nice_ ,' a faint voice penetrated his mind. ' _What am I going to do with you?_ '

' _Oh well, since you put my three friends into three different houses, why don't you just sort me into Slytherin, so that I can dwell on my misery all on my own_ ,' Harry thought, sarcastically, before he readied himself to reply to the Hat.

However, apparently the Hat had been able to hear his thoughts, because he replied, ' _Well, if that's what you want; what a Slytherin way to tell me that you want to be together with Helga's sister_.' Before Harry could react in any way, the Hat shouted into the Hall, "Slytherin."

"Stupid old Hat," Harry mumbled, totally annoyed, before he tore the Hat from his head and handed it back to Professor McGonagall. He slowly walked over to the Slytherin table and sat next to the other first years, who had already been sorted.

"Hello Harry, I am Blaise Zabini," the boy on his left side told him.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied, looking over to Ceridwen, who was smiling at him from the Hufflepuff table.

"Who would not know Harry Potter?" the girl to his right side chuckled, before she introduced herself as Millicent Bulstrode.

"Why?" Harry asked in surprise, causing everyone to laugh.

"Well, at least it will have been a shock for Dumbledorks that Harry Potter was sorted into Slytherin," a very blonde boy, who then told Harry that he was Draco Malfoy, sneered.

' _I have no idea what they're talking about_ ,' Harry mused, resolving to ask Ceridwen or Professor Snape later on.

After a few words from the headmaster, dinner began, and Harry noticed that the food was even better than it had been in the past. ' _Well, they'll probably have different ingredients_ ,' he mused, listening as his classmates talked about the teachers at the head table.

"That's Professor Quirrell I think. Father told me about him and his smelly turban. He said the poor man stutters so much that it was a wonder Dumbledorks hired him as a teacher," Draco just explained, and Harry followed his look, noticing that the man next to Professor Snape was indeed wearing a strange turban.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his forehead, causing him to quickly grab his head. "Is everything all right?" Blaise asked, eyeing him in concern.

"Yes, of course," Harry replied quickly, sighing in relief as the pain subsided. ' _The man is strange. I wonder if that was my scar that suddenly hurt so much. The pain seemed to come from that part of my head, but how can that happen?_ ' he thought as he absentmindedly finished his dinner.

Suddenly, Professor Snape swept behind the house table. "Prefects, please gather the house in the common room for our house meeting in twenty minutes," he said in his baritone voice, causing the prefects to jump from their seats.

Harry cast a longing look at Ceridwen, realising sadly that he would not have a chance to speak with her tonight, and the girl smiled and waved her hand at him, causing him to feel much better. ' _We'll find some time to meet tomorrow. Maybe we can do our homework together in our quarters_ ,' he thought and quickly followed his classmates down to the dungeons, a way that Harry knew all too well. ' _I made these stairs together with Salazar_ ,' he thought, happily, as he hurried behind the others. ' _Oh, and there's the shortcut to the lake. I wonder if Professor Snape knows about it. As sad as it is to be in a different house from Ceridwen, I'm glad to have him as my head of house. He's really nice_.'

The group finally reached a huge portrait of Salazar. "This is Salazar Slytherin, the founder of our house," one of the prefects informed them. "The password is 'Proud to be a Slytherin'."

Harry and the other first years observed in amazement how their housemates gathered in the common room, sitting in a circle on the floor. The first years were motioned to sit in the middle. Harry let his eyes wander around the room, which was filled with old, yet comfortable looking sofas that were grouped around the huge fireplace. ' _It doesn't look much different from what it looked like when we first furnished it_ ,' Harry realised. ' _I'm looking forward to sleep in the dormitories with the windows looking out into the lake. It must be so much fun to watch the fish, and it was my idea_ ,' he thought, feeling very proud at the prospect.

Suddenly, the room became quiet, when Professor Snape swept in through a barely visible door to their left, of which Harry knew that it led to the Potions master's office. "Welcome to Slytherin to the first years, welcome back to the older students," he greeted them, his face schooled to a blank expression.

' _I like his voice. I's so soothing_ ,' Harry mused, listening to the professor's monologue with interest.

"Slytherin has always had a bad reputation, and we all have to work on improving this. Remember that no one cares about Slytherins, so we have to look after ourselves. We're a huge family, and I expect all of you to interact like brothers and sisters. I do not want to see any fights outside this house. If you want to fight with your siblings, do it here."

' _Slytherin has a bad reputation?_ ' Harry thought. ' _Why would that be? At least in the past, all the four houses were equal_.'

"I expect you to study in small groups here in the common room or if necessary in the library. If you have questions, the older students will be here to help you. In return, I expect the younger students to do small chores for the fifth and seventh year students, who are busy studying for their exams. If you lose house points to any of the teachers or prefects, you will also lose points within the house. If you earn yourself a detention with any other professor, you will additionally serve a detention with me. Within our house, you can earn good points in form of snakes or bad points in form of toads. Everything concerning the rules, snakes, toads, rewards and punishment is displayed on the board over there. Follow the rules, and you won't have any problems."

' _Snakes and toads must be a new invention. I don't think Salazar used such a system_ ,' Harry mused as the professor continued his explanation, resolving to be careful not to receive any toads.

"Independent from the school's curfew, Slytherin has its own curfew. For all students from first through fourth year, curfew is at nine o'clock; for the fifth, sixth and seventh years, curfew is at ten o'clock. Bedtime and lights out is eleven o'clock for everyone. See that you keep to these times. If you can't manage to finish your homework by then, you may come to my office before your bed time and speak with me. Furthermore, you must be on time at all times. You have to attend breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Great Hall, and of course you must be in your classrooms punctually. If you are ill or for some other reason unable to be on time, you must come and inform me or go straight to Madam Pomfrey. I will spend at least thirty minutes in the common room every night. Feel free to speak with me about school matters or private topics."

' _I'm glad Professor Snape knows that I grew up in the past. It's bad enough that I have to keep it a secret from everyone else_ ,' Harry thought, hoping that he would have a chance to speak with the professor in private soon.

"Every Friday evening at eight o'clock sharp, we're going to hold a house meeting here in the common room. Everyone has to attend. No excuses, except for being in Madam Pomfrey's care in the hospital wing. Now I would like the first years to introduce themselves to their housemates."

Harry absently listened to his classmates introducing themselves, frantically wondering what he should say. Throwing the professor a help searching look, he finally said, "I'm Harry Potter. My parents died when I was small…" ' _No, they're alive in the past_ ,' his mind screamed, "I don't have any siblings…" ' _In fact I have two foster sisters, and one of them is somewhere in the castle at the moment_ ,' "and I don't know much about here." ' _Apart from the fact that I helped building this castle_.'

Everyone applauded politely, and Harry sighed in relief when they were led to their dormitory. He happily noticed that his bed was the one right next to the window on the right side of the room, just next to where a soft green stone stood out from the wall. ' _Oh, the mattress Hogwarts made for me when I was sick is still here_ ,' Harry realized, feeling very glad and excited. ' _Right, I'm not alone here. Hogwarts is here, and I can always talk to her_ ,' he thought happily.

Harry had just finished unpacking his belongings, when one of the older students came into the dormitory. "Professor Snape wants to speak with each of you personally. Follow me to his office and line up to wait for your turn."

Harry noticed that the prefect did not lead them through the connecting door but out of the common room into the dungeon hall, before he motioned for them to wait. Harry was the last in the line, but he did not mind. ' _Maybe that way I'll have more time to ask him questions. I want to know why everyone knows my name_ ,' he mused, before his thoughts wandered to the past and the family he had there. Finally, Blaise, who had been right before him in the line, was called in, and Harry remained alone in the corridor. He placed his hand against the wall.

"Hogwarts," he whispered, "may I disturb you?"

The castle chuckled, before she whispered back, "You're not disturbing me, my boy. I'm glad that you remember to speak with me from time to time. I see you ended up in the house, which you built together with Salazar. Don't you think you were predestined to be sorted here? Don't you feel proud to live in the rooms, which you helped to construct? The same goes for Ceridwen. She mainly helped Helga to build the Hufflepuff house."

"I understand," Harry replied. "However, I still feel a bit sad to be in a different house from her. Do you think we'll be able to meet in our own rooms and do our homework together?"

"Of course you will be able to spend your free time with her," Hogwarts said, chuckling again. "The two of you know me better than anyone else, don't you? Do you still remember how to make a secret door? Why don't you make a door that leads from your dormitory to your own room and another one from Ceridwen's dormitory to her own room? That way, you'll be able to meet whenever you want."

"Oh Hogwarts, you're absolutely brilliant," Harry blurted out. "That's a fantastic idea. Thank you so much."

"I'm magical, and I'm only as brilliant as the six witches and wizards that built me," the castle chuckled, just when the door to Professor Snape's office opened and Blaise stepped out.

Harry quickly withdrew his hand and hesitantly entered the office. The professor motioned for him to take a seat in front of his desk and quietly observed him for an infinite amount of time. Harry averted his eyes to the floor, unsure if he was allowed to speak, or if he was supposed to wait for the professor to address him.

"Mr. Potter," Severus finally said, "what a surprise."

Harry looked up, throwing the professor a questioning look. "I'm sorry, Professor, may I ask some questions?" Seeing the professor nod, he asked, "Why does everyone know my name, and what is a surprise, sir?"

"Mr. Potter, did your relatives ever tell you why you were supposed to live with them?"

"My relatives?" Harry asked in disbelief. "No, they didn't even tell me that I was a wizard. My foster parents told me. Please tell me everything, sir. Apart from Ceridwen, you're the only person here in the castle who knows about me living in the past."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Many people think they know about you though. Well, I don't believe that I am the right person to inform you, but since the headmaster doesn't seem to be inclined to take action..." He interrupted himself, before he slowly began to explain, "The times when you were born were very dark times. The Dark Lord killed many people, and he also went to your home when you were one year old and killed your parents." Ignoring Harry's gasp, he continued, "He also tried to kill you; however, he couldn't. He only managed to give you the scar on your forehead, while the spell seems to have backfired and defeated him. I don't believe that it killed him; however, he has vanished, at least for the time being. Therefore, everyone thinks of you as the saviour of the wizarding world."

"Because of something I did as a baby?" Harry asked in disbelief, letting out a snort, before he became pensive. "Professor, I think he will come back soon though. As you perhaps know, Rowena Ravenclaw was a Seer, and she told me that I had to attend Hogwarts here in the future, because I had to save the wizarding world again, although I'd have preferred to remain in the past. I don't know exactly what she meant, but she said we'd speak about it when Ceridwen and I return home for Christmas."

Severus remained pensive for a short while, before he said, "Harry, you must be very careful, and if you notice anything strange, you are to come and inform me at once. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir. Um... Excuse me, sir, but why is it strange that I was sorted into your house?"

The professor cleared his throat. "Many dark wizards were in Slytherin. Therefore, this house has always had a bad reputation for turning out dark wizards. However, for many witches and wizards of our time, you are the symbol of the light side. Therefore, it seems strange that you were sorted into Slytherin. I am very glad to have you here though, and I hope you'll help our house to improve its reputation."

"I'll try," Harry said firmly. "I especially love this house, because I helped Salazar to build it," he hesitantly admitted. "I put up quite a fight with him to make the dormitories have windows looking out into the lake, and I'm glad to have the bed right next to one."

"Very well, have a good evening and I will see you tomorrow," the Potions Master replied with an unreadable expression on his face and dismissed Harry.

Harry returned to his dormitory. Seeing that his classmates had already changed into pyjamas and were getting ready for bed, he did the same, all the while he was thinking, ' _As soon as they're asleep, I'm going to make the secret door to my room_.' To his relief, it did not take long before he could hear the regular breathing of his four classmates. He laid his hand on the wall right next to his bed and made the door to his own room. Stepping through the door, he walked over into Ceridwen's room and made another door, asking the castle to connect it to the wall next to her bed in Hufflepuff. ' _I'll better leave a message for her_ ,' he mused and quickly scribbled an explanation for her on a parchment, which he placed on her desk in case she discovered the door before he was able to speak with her. ' _That was a brilliant idea_ ,' he thought as he drifted off to sleep a few minutes later, feeling very grateful towards the castle for her suggestion.

When Professor Snape handed out the timetables at breakfast, Harry sadly registered that he did not even have any classes together with Ceridwen. ' _I wonder if classes are very different from what they were in the past_ ,' he mused, expecting everything to be very easy for him, because he had already attended classes in the past. However, his first Transfiguration class told him differently.

Seeing a tabby cat sit on the teacher's desk, Harry could barely resist the temptation to transform into his griffin form. However, remembering that he was supposed to have grown up with his muggle relatives, he restrained himself and quickly took the empty seat between Draco and Blaise. ' _Oh thank Merlin I didn't transform_ ,' he thought upon realising that the cat was his professor.

After a short introduction, Professor McGonagall handed out matches to everyone, instructing the students to transfigure them into needles. Harry hesitantly pulled his wand out of his robe pocket. ' _How am I supposed to do magic with a wand?_ ' he wondered and observed his classmates waving their wands at their matches.

"Mr. Potter, is anything wrong?" McGonagall queried, causing Harry to look up in shock.

"Err...no," he replied quickly and waved his wand, uttering the incantation. To his surprise, the match obediently changed into a needle, and the professor was just on the verge of commenting him, when the needle turned upwards, and a huge flame burst from her tip. Fortunately, the flame vanished immediately. Harry looked at the long, silvery thing in shock.

"Of course, Potter must think he was better than the rest of us," he heard someone whisper aloud and turned around to see that it was a red headed boy, who was sitting next to Neville.

"Why would I think I was better?" he asked in an upset voice. "Didn't you see that I didn't manage to cast the spell properly?"

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, behave yourselves," the professor said sternly, her lips stretched to a thin line. "Mr. Potter, you probably put much too much magic into the spell. Try again and transfigure your needle back into a match, but be more careful the next time," she added in a slightly friendlier voice.

Seeing that the professor was observing him, Harry waved his wand again, feeling very conscious about the magic, and only whispered the incantation. However, the spell still seemed to be too strong. The needle changed back into a match; however, as before the tip lit itself, and the match burned completely down, before the flame died. ' _Strange that the table is completely unharmed_ ,' Harry mused, staring at the spot in front of him in horror.

"Mr. Potter, please remain after class," Professor McGonagall said firmly, throwing him a strange look.

' _Oh no_ ,' Harry thought, terrified as he felt the eyes of his classmates trained on himself. ' _So much about not attracting any attention to myself_.' He quietly slid his wand back into his robe pocket and averted his eyes to his desk, wishing that he could go back to the past right away. ' _I need to speak with Ceridwen_ ,' he thought. ' _I can't live here. It's horrible, because everyone thinks I'm special. Maybe we can just go home and once more beg Helga, Rowena and the others to let me stay there and attend classes in the past_.' He unobtrusively wiped a tear from his cheek, when he was suddenly brought back to reality as the professor dismissed his classmates. ' _Oh no; what am I going to tell her?_ ' he wondered, horrified. ' _I can't tell her that I'm used to performing magic wandlessly now, can I?_ '

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think._


	9. Classes

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"Mr. Potter, please follow me into my office," the Gryffindor head instructed him, and Harry cautiously followed the professor, noticing in relief that her expression became much friendlier when they left the classroom.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he said in a barely audible voice. "I haven't ever used a wand before."

McGonagall gave him a sharp look. "Most students only receive their wands when they turn eleven. Therefore, many of them have never used a wand before, which is the explanation of why none of your other classmates managed to perform the transfiguration. You were the only one, however, to manage any type of change, but your spell seemed much too strong." She let out a long sigh. "Mr. Potter, did you ever willingly do magic before? Without a wand?"

"Yes Madame," Harry hesitantly admitted. "I'd probably be able to do the transfiguration without my wand."

The professor gave him a surprised look. "You are capable of wandless magic?" she queried, causing Harry to slightly nod his head. She conjured a match and laid it in front of Harry on the desk. "Go on then."

Under the Transfiguration professor's watchful eyes, Harry easily transfigured the match into a needle, sighing in relief when the needle remained on the desk as it was supposed to do.

"Very well done, Mr. Potter. Five points to Slytherin," McGonagall commended him gently, before her expression turned stern again. "Mr. Potter, the ability of wandless magic is very uncommon to say the least, especially at your young age. I know that you grew up with your relatives, but did you by chance receive any kind of magical training before you came here?"

Harry threw the witch a terrified look. ' _I don't want to lie, but what am I supposed to say?_ ' he thought frantically. "Yes Professor, but I'm not supposed to speak about the matter," he said quietly.

McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Potter, please tell me at least if anyone here at Hogwarts knows about it and who told you not to speak about it."

"Professor Snape knows about it," Harry said hesitantly.

McGonagall glanced at her wrist watch. "Unfortunately, we don't have time to continue this discussion at the moment. Please come back to me after dinner. In the meantime, I'd like you to consider letting me in on the secret. You probably don't know that your mother was like a daughter to me and I often babysat you when she was still alive. Whatever the truth is, I want you to know that I'll fully support you. You definitely need help doing wand magic. I suggest that you try not to let anyone know that you're capable of wandless magic."

"Professor, if I tell you the truth as well, can you promise me to not tell the headmaster about it?" Harry asked in determination.

The professor cast him a surprised look. "Of course, Harry." She quickly scribbled something on a parchment. "Hand this to your professor in case you're late for your second class."

Harry profusely thanked the professor, knowing that he'd manage to be in front of the Potions classroom within thirty seconds if he used one of the hidden doors.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Professor Snape just opened the classroom door when Harry arrived. He once more sat between Draco and Blaise, who threw him sympathetic looks. Harry smiled back and listened with interest, as the professor began to hold a monologue about the art of Potions. From the corner of his eyes, Harry could see that Ron Weasley was pointing at him, snickering together with another Gryffindor boy, whose name Harry did not know.

"Some of you seem to think that they needn't listen to their professors," Severus suddenly interrupted his speech, turning around quickly. "Mr. Weasley, tell me what I would get if I inserted worm wood to a basic healing potion and stirred clockwise?"

"How should I know?" Ron replied, shrugging. "This is only our first class."

"You don't know? Such a pity," the professor sneered. "Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence. Mr. Potter, can you enlighten your classmate?"

"An explosion, sir," Harry replied quietly, sighing as he felt himself blush when everyone's attention was turned to him... again.

"That is correct. Five points to Slytherin, Mr. Potter. Now if you're finished, Mr. Weasley, let's begin with your first simple healing potion. The recipe is on the board." With a flick of his wand, the recipe appeared, and Harry saw that it was indeed a very simple concoction.

He quickly gathered his ingredients and managed to flawlessly brew the potion, sighing in relief when he bottled one phial and placed it on the professor's desk. ' _That's strange though_ ,' he mused as he reflected the potion he had just brewed while he waited for his classmates to finish their potions, absently noticing that the professor took more house points from Ron and also from Neville, who had managed to make his potion explode. ' _Why aren't there any full moon dew drops in the recipe? Salazar used the same recipe, however with full moon dew drops in them. Last year, we even went out at four o'clock in the morning to harvest them_.'

Seeing that the professor returned to his desk and quietly observed the class, Harry hesitantly stepped to his side. "Excuse me, sir; may I ask you something?"

Severus looked up, questioningly raising an eyebrow, and Harry asked about the full moon dew drops in a barely audible voice, noticing that the professor was barely able to hide his surprise.

"Why would I want to insert full moon dew drops?" he whispered with apparent interest.

"Because they're supposed to strengthen the healing potion," Harry whispered back, "but they have to be taken very early in the morning after the full moon."

With a flick of his wand the professor conjured a parchment with the recipe, before he handed Harry his quill. Harry thought for an instant and inserted the dew drops between the third and fourth brewing step, adding, ' _fourteen and a half stirs, anti-clockwise_.'

"Are you sure, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked in surprise, causing Harry to chuckle. "Of course. That's one of the first potions we learned in our first Hogwarts year."

In the meantime, most of his classmates had finished brewing, and the professor quickly dismissed the class. "Mr. Potter," he said thoughtfully, "who taught you Potions? Professor Slytherin?"

"Yes sir. He was the Potions professor and Potions master," Harry replied, glad that his classmates, who had been looking at him curiously, had left the room. "Ceridwen and I were allowed to attend classes from the age of eight onwards. Therefore, we already studied Potions for three years, and Potions was one of my favourite classes. After Runes in fact," he added thoughtfully. "Don't we have Runes classes here in this time?"

The professor looked up, deep in thoughts. "Runes classes only begin from third year onwards. I'll check the time tables though and if the third year Runes classes don't collide with any of your main subjects, I shall speak with my colleagues and ask if you may attend. The problem is that no one is supposed to know why you're ahead in several of your classes."

"I don't think I'll be much ahead, sir," Harry replied quickly. "In Potions maybe yes, although the recipes could be slightly different from what I learned. However, I have problems casting spells with a wand..." He quickly told the professor what had happened in Transfiguration.

"Harry, I will join you for your conversation with Professor McGonagall tonight. I suggest that we tell her the truth. She won't give you out to the headmaster, and she'll be a valuable ally, especially if we notice that you're too advanced for some classes or need more training for others. We should also take Ms. Hufflepuff with us, considering that she will probably have similar problems to what you are having."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After dinner, Severus, Harry and Ceridwen visited Professor McGonagall and told her the truth about Ceridwen and Harry. Harry anxiously observed the professor, who had a stern expression on her face, while Severus informed her about how Harry had spent his last five years. Only when the Potions master finished, the edges of her mouth pulled upwards, and a huge smile spread across her face.

"Harry, I'm very glad that you got away from your horrible relatives and found such a nice home," she said warmly.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said gratefully and listened quietly, when Severus explained about the classes Harry and Ceridwen had already attended in the past.

The teachers decided that Harry would be allowed to attend the third year Ancient Runes class. He was going to miss two of his History of Magic classes and one Potions class, and the professors told him sternly that he would still be supposed to take his tests in History of Magic at the end of the school year. Ceridwen was allowed to miss Herbology and History of Magic classes in favour of private Healing classes with Madam Pomfrey, provided that the healer would agree to teach her, which was very likely, although they'd have to let her in on their secret. The professors also agreed to take turns teaching both children in wand magic in Helga's quarters every day between the last afternoon class and dinner.

Harry smiled happily when he sank into bed that evening. All of the problems that had arisen throughout the day seemed to be solved, and he looked very much forward to his first Ancient Runes class that was going to take place first thing in the morning.

At the beginning of the class, the third-year students eyed him with suspicion; however, one class of Ancient Runes was enough for everyone to accept that Harry was not only as ready to learn about Runes as themselves, but that he could answer all questions and seemed to be at least two years ahead of them already.

Unfortunately, his next class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, was much less pleasant. Not only did Harry once more have problems with wand magic, but from the moment he entered the classroom, his head exploded in pain. ' _What am I going to do?_ ' he thought frantically when the professor instructed them to pair up and cast the Expelliarmus spell at their partner. He looked around, seeing Neville stand right behind him.

"Would you like to practise together?" he asked hesitantly, sighing in relief when the Gryffindor nodded eagerly. "You begin," Harry instructed the other boy, and the two first years quietly practised the spell. Seeing that Neville failed to cast the spell properly, Harry only spoke the incantation, but didn't move his hand nor his wand in order not to harm his partner but to keep up appearances at the same time. Unfortunately, by the end of the class his headache had become so bad that he decided to skip lunch and take a nap. He quickly exchanged a few words with Blaise in case anyone asked for him and returned to his dormitory, where he curled up on the small green bed the castle had once made for him, noticing that his headache completely vanished as soon as he lay down.

' _Something must be off with Professor Quirrell_ ,' he thought, resolving to speak with his head of house when he had problems in the strange professor's presence again. Still feeling slightly nauseated, Harry remained in his dormitory, thinking about how to cast spells with wandless magic even with his wand in his hand. ' _I'll need to do that in Charms too_ ,' he realised in anticipation of his first afternoon class. ' _Thank Merlin Ceridwen and I are going to have private classes with Professors Snape and McGonagall. I'm glad that Ceridwen has the same problems, even if they don't seem to be as bad as mine_.'

He laid his hand on the wall. "Hello Hogwarts, how are you?"

"Hello Harry, what are you doing here at this time of the day?" the old castle asked back, causing Harry to tell her everything about his Defence class.

"Hmmm," the castle replied, thoughtfully. "I have an idea, although I'm not sure if it'll work. You can try to release some of your magic into my walls, before you attend classes during which you have to use your wand. Afterwards, you need to touch my walls again to have your magic returned."

"Can we try it out immediately?" Harry asked eagerly, sitting up in excitement. The castle agreed, just when Professor Snape entered the dormitory. ' _Oh no_ ,' Harry groaned inwardly, but asked the castle, "What do I have to do?"

"Just leave your hand on my wall. I'm going to borrow fifty percent of your magic. We'll have to see if that's enough or perhaps too much. You might feel a bit tired. Anyway, touch my wall again after your Charms class, and I'll refill your magic."

Harry instantly began to feel tired. "Okay. Thank you, Hogwarts," he replied quietly and finally pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry, Professor," he turned to Severus, who stood next to him, quietly observing his interaction with the castle.

"What exactly was that?" the professor asked sternly, causing Harry to quickly explain. "We'll see if that works," Severus said thoughtfully. "Nevertheless, you are not to miss any meals. One toad for missing lunch, Mr. Potter."

Harry looked at his head of house in shock and quickly explained about Professor Quirrell and his headache.

Severus remained pensive for a moment, before he said, "If it happens again, please come to me immediately, so that we can find out when and why it happens."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Harry noticed soon that the castle's idea had been brilliant. In his Charms class, he was barely able to cast the Lumos charm and only after Draco managed to cast it. Unfortunately, after practising the charm a few times, he felt exhausted, like Hogwarts had predicted. ' _That's still so much better than burning things_ ,' he thought in relief as he pocketed his wand at the end of the class, pondering where he could speak to the castle to retrieve his magic back without being heard or seen by others. ' _Well, maybe Hogwarts will understand that I'm not able to talk when other students are around_ ,' he finally thought and unobtrusively placed his hand on the wall as if to steady himself, when they waited to be let into the Potions classroom for their second afternoon class. He let out a relieved sigh when he felt the magic being returned into his body.

' _I must tell Ceridwen_ ,' he thought when he entered Helga's quarters for their lesson with Professors McGonagall and Snape. However, his foster sister was much too excited to listen.

"Harry, Harry, my Healing class was so interesting. You won't believe what they can do in this time. I can't wait to tell Helga and Mum about what I learned today. It's so much faster and easier to heal someone's bones than it was in our time," she blurted out in excitement. "Oh Harry, it's such a pity that we can't have classes together due to being in different houses," she finally ended her monologue, looking sadly at Harry, who couldn't help chuckling at her enthusiasm.

"That's true," he said thoughtfully. "I'm glad that we can at least study together, although I'd love to bring Blaise, Neville and perhaps a few other nice students, so that we could all spend some time together."

"Well, maybe we'll be able to tell Blaise and Neville the truth some time, but I think it's still too early. We don't know them well enough," Ceridwen replied pensively. "But I have an idea. Why don't we ask Hogwarts to make a study room for all the first years, where we can all meet and study together, indifferent of our house?"

Harry eagerly agreed, although they did not have time to speak with the castle due to the professors' arrival.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind reviews. Please let me know what you think._

 _A.N. Please do not search for "The Mystery of Age". Due to the lack of resonance, I have just deleted it. Sorry to the few kind readers who kept reviewing._


	10. Full moon

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

Even if it worked out well for Harry to give Hogwarts his magic during classes that afforded much wand magic, the professors insisted on teaching both Harry and Ceridwen wand magic. However, it remained difficult for both students, who had spent the last few years casting all spells wandlessly.

 _'I like our private classes with McGonagall and Snape though, especially as they give me the opportunity to have at least one lesson together with Ceridwen every day,'_ Harry thought one day, when he tiredly followed the girl to the Great Hall for dinner, toying with the thought of using a shortcut. _'I can't do that in front of the professors,'_ he reprimanded himself. _'Maybe one day I'll tell Professor Snape about those within and to Slytherin.'_

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Even if Harry and Ceridwen were very careful to not let anyone know about the secret, glad that Professors McGonagall, Snape and Pomfrey knew the truth, during the first-years' first flying class, Harry completely forgot about the matter.

When Madam Hooch instructed everyone to sit on their brooms, take off from the ground and land again right away, Neville did not manage to control his broom and was helplessly taken upwards.

 _'Oh no_ ,' Harry thought, horrified. _'I need to help him_.' Without further thinking, he placed his broom onto the ground, transformed into his griffin form and took after his Gryffindor classmate. Upon reaching the other boy, he instructed him, =Sit on my back, and I'll take you back to the ground,= not considering that Neville would not be able to understand his griffin talk.

Nevertheless, the frightened boy seemed to comprehend what the griffin wanted, and carefully climbed onto the magical animal's back, letting out a relieved sigh, when they safely reached the ground.

 _'Oh no, I just hope no one realised that the griffin was me,'_ Harry thought, as he quickly hid behind his housemates to change back.

"Harry," Blaise's voice penetrated his ears the instant he stood behind his housemates in his human form, "was that a griffin, and how did you manage such a transformation?"

Not wanting to draw any attention onto himself, Harry merely shrugged and happily took into the air, when Madam Hooch chose that instant to allow all students who could already fly to go on and try to catch the Snitch, which she had just released.

Thirty minutes later, Harry caught the Snitch for the fifth time, and inwardly groaned, when the Gryffindor head of house stepped over to him, asking, "Madam Hooch, may I borrow Mr. Potter for a moment?"

Once they were far enough away from the group to not be overheard, McGonagall gave him a look of pure excitement. "Harry, would you like to play Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team?" she blurted out.

Harry stared at the professor in surprise. "Professor, I'd like that, but I don't have a clue how to play Quidditch," he admitted.

The professor cast him a rare smile, gently patting his shoulder. "Don't worry, Mr. Potter, you'll manage without problems. All you have to do is to catch the Snitch before the other team's Seeker does. I'll speak with Professor Snape later on. As far as I know, they urgently need a new Seeker anyway."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied, smiling, noticing from the corners of his eyes that the flying class was just over. He quickly joined his classmates and told Blaise and Draco about the professor's suggestion.

"That's amazing," Blaise blurted out in clear admiration.

"I hope Severus will accept you, although you're a first-year and first-years aren't allowed to play on the teams," Draco spoke up, grinning, "as you're really good, and I hope we can win the Quidditch cup seven years in a row."

Feeling very happy about his friends' kind words, Harry returned to the common room, looking forward to tell Ceridwen about his success.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

To the Slytherins' relief, the teachers made an exception for Harry from the first-year rule, and he was allowed to become a member of the Quidditch team.

On Saturday morning, the Slytherin Quidditch team trained their new Seeker. Marcus Flint, the captain, took his time to patiently explain everything that Harry had to know about the game, before everyone took into the air, and Harry was instructed to catch the Snitch.

By the time he had caught the Snitch for the tenth time, just about two hours into the game, everyone was convinced that their house was going to win the Quidditch cup as long as Harry was going to remain on the team.

"You're brilliant," Marcus told him, when they returned to the dungeons. "I'm glad that we've got you on the team."

"Thank you," Harry replied, feeling happy at the praise, however, uncomfortable at the same time, as he still even had to win his first match.

"Don't worry, you will manage," Hermione, who had become good friends with Ceridwen, told him after the last afternoon class on Monday. "Your father and also your grandfather have their trophies in the trophy room."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise, resolving to look for the trophy room together with Ceridwen at the next opportunity.

 _'Hermione is really nice,'_ he thought. _'I'm glad that Ceridwen found such a nice friend in Ravenclaw, even if I'd prefer Hufflepuff having classes together with Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw.'_

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

However, during their evening lesson with Professors McGonagall and Snape, Harry completely forgot about Quidditch.

After practising wand magic for an hour, his head of house suddenly asked, "Harry, tonight is the night of the full moon. Do you know, by chance, at what time the full moon dew drops should be harvested for the best effect?"

Harry looked up in surprise. "Salazar always went around three o'clock in the morning. I've accompanied him a few times. May I perhaps go with you?" he offered, causing McGonagall to cast him a seemingly horrified look.

"No Harry," Snape declined in a firm voice. "Since it's the full moon, there might be werewolves in the forest, and it would be much too dangerous for you."

"And for you it's not dangerous?" Harry enquired, giving the professor a sharp look.

"I'm a snake Animagus, and in the worst case, I could easily transform and get away," the professor admitted.

"Harry could also transform into his griffin form," Ceridwen spoke up, pensively. "I believe that there weren't werewolves in our time, since Salazar cured them, but I don't think that they'd be dangerous for griffins."

"You're a griffin Animagus?" McGonagall blurted out, while simultaneously, Snape enquired, "Professor Slytherin had a cure for lycanthropy?"

"Yes to both," Ceridwen beat Harry to his response, before Harry quickly transformed into his griffin form and back.

After confirming that yes, he was able to fly and run and even take a person with him on his back and that yes, he was able to brew the wolvescure potion, but that it would take twenty hours, so that they should brew it during the weekend, Snape finally agreed to take Harry with him to harvest the full moon dew drops.

"Would it be all right for you if I woke you up at three o'clock in the morning?" Snape queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes sir," Harry replied, eagerly.

"Well, considering that you need to get up so early, you better go to bed right away," Ceridwen instructed him, once the teachers had left.

"All right, good night," Harry replied, sighing. "I just wished we could spend more time together," he mumbled.

"Maybe we could ask Hogwarts for an advice," Ceridwen suggested.

"Oh that's right," Harry agreed, smiling. "She always has the best ideas."

The two first-years decided to postpone their talk to Hogwarts to the following evening, and Harry stepped right into his dormitory and went to bed.

By the time the professor woke him up in the morning, Harry was well rested and eager to accompany his teacher into the forest to harvest full moon dew drops.

Harry was just about to follow the professor though the main dungeon corridor, when a sudden idea crossed his mind. "Professor, can you see this door?" he enquired, pointing to the door leading to the shortcut to the entrance hall.

Noticing that the professor merely quirked an eyebrow in silent question, Harry quickly opened the door only to close it again right away.

"Now I can see it," the teacher confirmed, giving him a questioning look.

"Shortcut to the entrance hall," Harry explained shortly, causing the Slytherin head to nod in surprise, when they stepped into the entrance hall mere seconds later.

"There are lots of shortcuts at Hogwarts, especially in the dungeons," Harry explained, "but I can only show them to you, when no one else is around."

The professor profusely thanked him, when they hurried towards the forbidden forest, making Harry smile. _'I'm the one who has to thank him for all that he does for Ceridwen and me,'_ he thought, when the howl of a werewolf penetrated his ears.

Fortunately, they did not meet a werewolf nor any other obstacles and safely returned to the castle two hours later. Without being asked, Harry followed the professor into his private lab, where he assisted the Potions master preserving their harvest.

"Did Professor Slytherin preserve them in the same way?" Snape enquired, only to nod, contentedly, when Harry confirmed.

"Harry, seeing that we have an hour left before breakfast," the professor spoke up, once the full moon dew drops had been taken care of, "would you mind writing the recipe for the wolvescure on a parchment, so that I can confirm that we have all the ingredients in our time?"

Harry cast the professor a horrified look. "Oh no, I haven't even thought about that," he admitted and readied himself to write the recipe down. "Oh well, if not, we can just go and take them from Salazar's lab, provided that it's still there," he added, pensively.

He was only half through the recipe, when Snape let out a long sigh, informing him that there were already two ingredients missing. "We neither have mangrove berries nor birch fern in this time."

Harry rose from his chair and quickly stepped over to the wall. "Hogwarts," he asked, urgently, placing his hand against the wall, "does Salazar's lab still exist and is accessible?"

"Yes my boy," Hogwarts replied in a soft voice, only to add, "and I believe that Amaterasu would be very happy if you visited her. You should re-cast Salazar's charm first though."

"All right, thank you Hogwarts, but I don't know the charm," Harry replied, feeling terrified at the thought.

"I will teach you the charm, before you go and cast it, perhaps together with the professor," Hogwarts replied, gently, causing Harry to profusely thank his old friend.

"Harry," his head of house spoke up, questioningly. "Who in the world is Amaterasu?"

Harry chuckled. "She's Salazar's familiar and a total cutie. She's a basilisk," he explained. "If you'd like to accompany me, we could go after the last afternoon class, so that we can retrieve the missing ingredients to begin brewing tomorrow. Maybe we could just simply use Salazar's lab," he added, pensively.

"You're full of surprises," Snape commented, shaking his head in what seemed to be annoyance.

During the day, Severus informed Minerva that they once more had to postpone their private lessons with Ceridwen and Harry to the time between dinner and curfew, as he had an errand to run together with Harry.

The two wizards met after the last afternoon class in Harry's room, where Hogwarts taught them the spell, which they had to cast over the grounds to keep everyone save from Amaterasu's eyes, and explained exactly, from where they had to cast it.

"I think I know where Salazar cast it," Harry replied in determination, before he profusely thanked the castle for her help.

They were just about to leave, when Ceridwen entered Harry's room, giving the two wizards a questioning look. Upon hearing Harry's explanation, she smiled. "I'm going with you. I want to visit Amaterasu as well," she stated in clear determination.

The two wizards exchanged a glance, before they nodded in understanding.

"Let's go then," Harry said, eagerly, motioning his head of house and his best friend to a nearby shortcut leading to the entrance hall.

After Harry and Severus cast the spell together, hoping that it would be strong enough to at least last a year, Ceridwen and Harry led the professor into the Chamber of Secrets, where Amaterasu greeted them with apparent enthusiasm.

"Ccceridwen and Harry, it'sss so nicce of you to visssit me again," the basilisk told them, before giving Severus a questioning look.

"Thisss is our Potionsss professor and Slytherin head," Harry informed the basilisk, noticing that the teacher swiftly transformed into his snake form.

Unable to converse with Amaterasu, Ceridwen proceeded to gently caress the large animal's head, causing the basilisk to let out noises that displayed clear contentedness.

After speaking to Amaterasu for a few more minutes, Harry told her that they'd like to visit the Potions lab, before he instructed the smaller snake to follow him.

"Harry, could you please switch on the fireplaccce?" Amaterasu asked him. "It'sss sso cold here, and it never hasss been switched on sssinccce my Salazzzar'sss time."

"Of course, I will do that," Harry replied, pleasantly.

HP

While Ceridwen remained with Amaterasu, who made herself comfortable in the now warm and comfortable, large fireplace, Harry and Severus headed into Salazar's private lab.

Harry could not help smiling at the sight of the meticulous lab, which looked exactly like it had looked in the time of the Founders, where he had helped Salazar preparing ingredients and brewing potions many times.

"These ingredients shelves are all self-replenishing," he explained to the Potions master, who was looking around in apparent amazement.

"This is just gorgeous," Severus finally stated, unable to take his eyes off the ingredients shelves. "They're not only self-replenishing, which is going to be extremely helpful, as there are several ingredients, which we don't have in this time, but they're also being kept under a refreshment charm," he added, carefully examining one or the other ingredient. "Let's come back here to brew the wolvescure potion during the weekend."

Harry agreed, smiling, feeling very happy at the Potions master's uncharacteristic excitement. ' _Thank Merlin. He helped us so much, when we came here. I'm glad that we can give something back for once_ ,' he thought, as he stepped out to where Ceridwen was cuddling with Amaterasu, while the professor still examined the lab.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During their evening lesson with Minerva and Severus, Ceridwen spoke up, hesitantly. "Professors, would it perhaps be possible to make a first-year study room, where we could study together with all the other first-years from the other houses?"

"Oh, yes please," Harry agreed immediately. "We've become good friends with Hermione from Ravenclaw, Neville from Gryffindor and Blaise and Draco from Slytherin. It would be great if we could meet them out of class to play or study together."

While Minerva stared at her Slytherin colleague in clear surprise, Severus looked back in what Harry interpreted as clear amusement.

"Leave it to Potter to work on overcoming the house rivalry," he said, smirking. "In fact, I believe that this is a very good idea, and I suggest that we speak with Albus about the matter later tonight."

"Let's do this," Minerva agreed, nodding her consent. "Twenty points to Hufflepuff for a very good idea towards a good relationship between the houses."

"I hope the headmaster will agree," Harry thought aloud, casting Ceridwen a comforting smile.

By the time Harry and Ceridwen returned to their dormitories late the same evening, they wondered if the professors would provide study rooms for them and where. However, in the morning, something happened that made both of them forget about the matter for the time being.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story. Please continue letting me know what you think._


	11. Midnight's duel

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

During the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Harry's scar began to hurt fiercely, and he could barely concentrate. To his chagrin, the professor paired him with Ronald Weasley, who had from the beginning of their time at Hogwarts frequently ridiculed Harry, first because he had not been able to get his overflowing magic in grip, then because of his almost non-existing Defence abilities.

The students were only supposed to cast the Expelliarmus spell against each other, a spell, which the first-years had already practised multiple times. However, when the professor began to count to three, at 'two', Ronald already cast his spell, grinning, as he probably did not expect Harry to be able to react on time. Harry was extremely absentminded due to the pain in his scar, however, he managed to dodge the spell and distractedly returned his own spell, completely forgetting to hold back his magic.

Clearly not expecting his opponent to return a powerful spell, Ronald had been inattentive and was flung into the wall behind him.

"Oh, sorry," Harry apologized, causing Draco to stare at him in disbelief.

"There's no need to be sorry, Harry. Weasel needs to be more attentive," he sneered, causing the Slytherins to laugh.

Being helped up by Dean and Seamus, Ron headed towards Harry and Draco and hissed, "I challenge you to a Wizard's duel in the Trophy room at midnight."

"I accept," Harry replied, coolly, even if he was very uncertain about what exactly a wizard's duel meant in this time. _'Well, I can always ask Draco and Blaise beforehand,_ ' he thought. Nevertheless, he could not push the thought of the duel from the front of his mind and kept worrying if it had been stupid to accept such a thing without exactly knowing the implications.

"Ah, don't worry, you'll manage to beat the weasel," his Slytherin classmates reassured him during lunchtime.

However, apparently, Neville was concerned about him and talked to Ceridwen and Hermione about the matter.

"Harry, we're all going to come and cheer for you," Ceridwen told him, when they were waiting for the professors in their own rooms after dinner. "All Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first-years, and they're all on your side."

"Thank you," Harry replied, feeling reassured on the one hand, however, uncomfortable at the audience, which would be much larger than expected.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

When the Slytherin first-years arrived at the Trophy room at one minute before midnight, their Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw classmates were already assembled, together with Fred and George Weasley.

"Hi Harry…"

"You probably know…"

"… that we're Gred…"

"… and Forge Weasley."

"The most stupid brother of us…"

"… has asked us to referee your duel," they addressed Harry in a strange way of speaking, before asking simultaneously, "Is that all right for you?"

"Yes," Harry replied firmly, somehow immediately liking the twins. ' _They're really funny,_ ' he thought in amusement, just when Ronald finally showed up together with Seamus and Dean.

"What's everyone doing here?" Ron asked, grumpily eyeing the complete first-year class from the three houses.

"We're cheering for Harry," Hermione spoke up, causing everyone to cheer.

Harry felt extremely uncomfortable at the unwanted attention, noticing how Ceridwen unobtrusively cast a protection charm around their classmates.

"All right…"

"… please begin," the twins instructed them.

"No unforgivables," the added, talking together.

Harry and Ron began to cast the first-year spells, which they had so far learned in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class, dodging their opponent's spells at the same time.

However, at one stage, Ron cast a cutting spell at Harry and hit the boy, causing Harry to become extremely upset. _'That's a higher-level spell,'_ he thought in annoyance, while dodging another spell, which he could not recognise. ' _Well, I can do such a thing, too,'_ he then decided, casting a spell at the other boy, which he had once seen Godric cast at Salazar.

As the spell hit his opponent, Ron was suddenly transfigured into an ostrich. Apparently realising that he would not be able to cast spells anymore, he tried to run over to Harry with the clear intention to harm him by other means, which did not work, as he kept stumbling on his bird's feet. _'Did ostrichs not bury their heads in sand?'_ Harry thought, casting two quick spells at the ground between him and the large bird, causing a hole to open, which had just the size of the ostrich's head and was filled with sand. Apparently completely distracted, his opponent automatically buried his head in the sand, causing everyone to blurt out into laughter.

"We think it's time…"

"… to end this nonsense," the twins decided, only to announce together, "Harry wins."

 _'Thank Merlin,'_ Harry thought in relief and hurried to follow his classmates out of the room. Once they were far enough away from Ron and his two friends, he cast Ceridwen a help-searching look. "Can you please heal me?" he whispered, causing his best friend to let out a long sigh.

"Harry, you know that I'm not allowed to cast healing spells," she whispered back. "I should take you to the hospital wing."

"No," Harry groaned. "Please Ceridwen, do it. I know that you're able to heal me, and we don't want anyone to know what happened."

"If you're able to heal him, please do so," Draco joined into Harry's urge. "Believe me, we don't want the teachers to know what we did here tonight."

"All right," Ceridwen grudgingly gave in and wandlessly cast a healing spell at her best friend.

"Thank you so much," Harry said in relief, as he observed the small cuts heal, while the pain subsided.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

"Hogwarts, I miss Ceridwen," Harry whispered to the castle, once he was safely back in his bed, feeling relieved that they had not been discovered by the teachers. "She really is the best, and I want to spend the whole day with her, not only two hours in the evening."

"Harry dear," Hogwarts replied in her always gentle voice, "I believe that I have an idea. Please give me some time, and in the meantime get some sleep."

"All right, thanks Hogwarts," Harry replied, sleepily, feeling very much consoled by Hogwarts' promise.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

"Ron, are you okay?" Dean enquired, giving the ostrich a concerned look, when he shook his head, burying his head in the sand once again.

"Let's take him to the hospital wing," Seamus decided, and together the two boys coaxed their friend towards the hospital wing.

Thirty minutes later, they finally arrived and knocked at the door to the healer's office.

It took a few minutes, before Madam Pomfrey appeared in the door frame, her healer's robes loosely thrown over her night gown.

"What happened?" she asked, urgently, apparently expecting some kind of emergency.

"Ron fought a wizard's duel against Harry, and when Ron cast a cutting spell at him, Harry turned him into an ostrich," Seamus explained, hurriedly.

"Can you please change him back?" Dean added, giving the healer a pleading look.

Pomfrey cast the boys a sharp look before asking, "Where's Mr. Potter? Healing the effects of a cutting spell is certainly more urgent than this."

"We don't know. The Slytherins just walked away together with everyone else," Dean replied, shrugging.

Giving the students a look of clear disbelief, Pomfrey called Misty, her personal house-elf. "Misty, please check if Harry Potter is suffering from a cutting spell and if the Slytherin first-years are out of bed," she instructed the elf.

"Yes, Mistress Poppy," Misty replied, before she popped away, silently, only to reappear a moment later. "Mistress Poppy, everyone is asleep, and Harry Potter is not affected by a cutting spell."

"Thanks Misty," Pomfrey said, gently, before she pointed her wand at the ostrich that seemed to be searching for a hole in the floor and changed him back to his human form.

"Return to Gryffindor quickly, before I have to take house points," she said in a strict voice that made it clear that she did not believe them.

The three boys hurriedly scurried away, completely forgetting to even thank the healer for her help.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Severus Snape was much too excited to sleep. The prospect of curing the werewolves, the nightmare of his youth, was too appealing to easily push some ideas from his mind.

 _'Harry and I might even receive the Order of Merlin for curing the werewolves,_ ' he thought. ' _I don't really care for the award, but it's said to be doted with a million Galleons. I could even afford to hire a student assistant._ '

' _Harry already promised to assist without any payment_ ,' a small voice spoke up from the back of his mind.

 _'That's true,'_ Severus mused, _'and he's extremely adept at brewing and well taught, considering that Salazar Slytherin was his teacher._ '

Recalling that Harry had been strangely agitated that evening, Severus decided to check on his little snake and his other fist-years.

To his relief, his students were all peacefully asleep, and Severus resolved to roam the main part of the castle for a while.

Just when he reached the second floor on the large staircase, he heard more than he saw three Gryffindor first-years discussing the Slytherins in loud voices.

"Ten points each from Gryffindor," Severus greeted them, feeling strangely contented to win some points over his Gryffindor colleague, who secretly was his best friend beside Poppy Pomfrey.

"We just went to see Pomfrey, because Potter transfigured me into an ostrich," Weasley complained, stroppily.

Severus held out his hand. "Then she surely gave you a pass. Show it to me," he demanded.

"No," Weasley replied in clear annoyance. "And the whole Slytherin first-year class was out of bed, too."

"30 points from Gryffindor for your insolence," the professor drawled. "I know for a fact that my first-years are fast asleep."

"Ron fought a wizard's duel against Potter at midnight," Seamus supplied, helpfully.

"And he did not only bring his whole house, but also the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs," Ron added, grimly.

"And you had to visit Madam Pomfrey afterwards?" the professor drawled. "What a pity."

"I cast a cutting spell at him, but someone might have healed him," Ron countered.

"Highly unlikely, considering that only Madam Pomfrey or I would be able to heal a cutting spell," Severus sneered. "And now return to your dormitory, before I have to take more points."

 _'The first-year classes of three of the houses accompanied Harry?'_ Severus thought in amazement. _'Maybe he'll indeed be able to brush up Slytherin's reputation.'_

Just when he reached his quarters, resolving to get some sleep, he decided, _'I'll speak to my colleagues at breakfast. We should have a pop quiz day for all first-year students tomorrow.'_

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

However, in the morning, he did not have a chance to talk to his colleagues about such a thing as a pop quiz day.

Just when the first-years readied themselves for the day, Hogwarts herself caused uproar in the headmaster's office.

The commotion began, when Hogwarts fiercely kicked the Sorting Hat into his brim.

"Hogwarts, you old bitch, what're ye doin'?" he asked, sleep-stricken.

"You made several grave mistakes with your Sorting this year," Hogwarts informed him. "You must request that the headmaster makes an important change."

"What change?" Sopho enquired, incredulously.

"From today onwards, the Gryffindors shall be paired with the Ravenclaws, and the Hufflepuffs will have classes together with the Slytherins," Hogwarts demanded. "If you don't comply, I'll kick you off the shelf."

"Why don't you tell the headmaster yourself?" Sopho asked back, apparently irritated, when Fawkes let out a series of trills in apparent amusement, causing Dumbledore to look up in clear surprise, just when the castle kicked the Hat off the shelf.

"Sopho, what happened to you?" the headmaster asked, as he gently picked him up and placed him back onto the shelf.

"Not so close to the wall, please," the Hat said, pleadingly, before he continued and explained about Hogwarts' request.

Dumbledore remained pensive for a moment, before he asked, "And why might that be? We should have done this at the beginning of the school year, not a month later."

"She claims that I had made a mistake with the Sorting," the Hat grudgingly explained, causing Hogwarts to kick him into the brim once again.

"Not one, but several," she corrected him, firmly.

"Well, I need to discuss this with my colleagues to determine how to proceed," Dumbledore said, pensively. "Fawkes, can you please fetch the heads of the houses for a most urgent meeting?"

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story. Please continue letting me know what you think._


	12. Another ostrich

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

After breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.

"Dear students, the teachers have decided that from today onwards, all first-year Gryffindors shall have classes together with the Ravenclaws and the first-year Hufflepuffs together with the Slytherins. From now on, this will be the pairing which we're going to use. We decided, however, to not bother the older students with this change."

Barely able to believe his luck, Harry exchanged an excited look with Ceridwen. "That was Hogwarts," he whispered to her, when they left the Great Hall together. "She promised to see to it that we see more of each other."

"That's absolutely brilliant," Ceridwen replied, giving him a broad smile.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

It was shortly before dinner on Halloween that Ceridwen by chance noticed that Hermione was sitting in the floor of the girl's washroom near the Great Hall, crying her eyes out.

"Hermione, what happened?" she asked in concern and, hearing how Ronald had ridiculed Hermione after the Ravenclaws' and Gryffindors' Charms class, fetched Harry, who was patiently waiting for her in front of the toilets.

"Ceridwen, I can't come in there. It's a girls' toilet in case you haven't noticed," Harry protested, when his best friend dragged him into the washroom while telling him what Ron had said to Hermione.

"Hermione, come on, don't listen to that dunderhead," Harry addressed his other friend, letting out a long sigh. "It's not true anyway, as Ceridwen, Susan, Neville, Blaise and I are your friends," he added, comfortingly. "Please forget about the matter and come with us to the Great Hall."

"Right Hermione, let's go," Ceridwen added. "The Halloween feast is going to begin shortly."

 _'It probably already has begun,'_ Harry thought, glancing at his wrist watch, just when the door opened and a mountain troll entered the washroom, causing the three first-years to scream in horror.

"Harry," Ceridwen blurted out, urgently, "can you try the spell which you cast on Ron in your duel?"

Not wasting time to reply, Harry pointed his wand at the troll, who an instant later found himself in the form of an ostrich.

 _'Thank Merlin,'_ Harry thought and, making a hole which was filled with sand on the floor, ushered the girls out of the room.

However, they only made it to the door, when the teachers arrived, staring at them in clear shock.

"What are you doing here, and who's that?" McGonagall asked, crisply, having heard from her best friend how she had to transfigure Ronald Weasley back from the form of an ostrich.

"That's a mountain troll," Hermione spoke up. "He came here, when Ceridwen and Harry were helping me with something."

"The next time, transfigure your enemies into rats," Severus instructed Harry, smirking. "We can always use some to test new potions." With that, he trained his wand at the ostrich and transfigured him into a rat and further into a wooden rat, which he pocketed, looking contented.

"Ten points to Slytherin for a brilliant transfiguration to save yourself and your classmates from danger," McGonagall uttered, before she ushered the students out of the room.

"Harry, that was amazing," Hermione told him. "Thank you so much for rescuing us from that thing."

"You're welcome," Harry replied, pleasantly, thinking, _'Thank Merlin it worked.'_

"You're the best," Ceridwen whispered, smiling at him.

"No, it was your idea, not mine," Harry whispered back, feeling very happy to have such a brilliant best friend.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

One evening, when Minerva and Severus were teaching Ceridwen and Harry in their rooms, Severus told him, "Tomorrow after the last afternoon class, a werewolf will come to Hogwarts in order to take a phial of the wolvescure which we brewed last weekend. Would you accompany me to Minerva's office to meet him?"

"Harry," Minerva spoke up, before the boy was able to voice a response, "Remus Lupin was one of your birth parents' best friends, and he'll surely be very pleased to meet you."

"All right," Harry agreed, hesitantly.

"You can make him swear a wizard's oath to keep your secret," Severus advised him, causing Harry to nod in understanding.

"Ceridwen, will you please join us, too?" Harry asked, smiling when his friend replied in a soothing voice.

"Of course, dear. Always," she said, smiling.

HP

Harry immediately liked the man. _'No wonder that he was one of my birth parents' best friends,'_ he thought, while Severus explained to the man about Salazar Slytherin's room, which did not only have a potions lab, equipped with ancient potions ingredients, but also a library with recipes of Salazar Slytherin.

'We should always use this explanation in order to not have to tell your secret to anyone,' he thought to Harry, who returned an unobtrusive nod.

 _'That's a good idea,'_ he thought, not wanting people to know where Ceridwen and he came from. _'Only in exceptions, I will tell someone if I really want it,'_ he resolved.

"Thank you so very much for doing this for me," Remus replied, hastily wiping a tear from his cheek. "I'm so very happy."

"Nevertheless, you need to spend the night in the Shrieking Shack, just to be sure that nothing is wrong with the ingredients, which have been stored in the lab for several hundred years," Severus informed the werewolf, who gladly agreed.

Finally, Severus suggested that Ceridwen and Harry should accompany the werewolf to the hospital wing, stating that Madam Pomfrey would take him to the Shrieking Shack later on.

"Let's meet us here again tomorrow morning before breakfast," the Gryffindor head suggested, and everyone including Remus happily agreed.

HP

On the way to the hospital wing, Remus turned to Ceridwen. "Hufflepuff?" he enquired. "I've never heard that name or even any of the other founders' name in this time. Are you a direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff if I may ask?"

"Harry, shall we tell Mr. Lupin the truth?" Ceridwen whispered, causing Harry to nod, smiling.

"Helga is my sister," Ceridwen admitted, and Harry informed the older wizard how he had ended up living in the time of the founders of Hogwarts.

"Please keep this to yourself though, as only Minerva, Severus and Madam Pomfrey know about it in this time," Harry ended his explanation in a firm voice.

"I will," Remus promised. "Thank you so much for telling me the truth and, above all, to try curing me from lycanthropy."

"You're welcome," Harry replied, smiling, before he promised, "In case it doesn't work for some reason, I'll ask Salazar what went wrong, so that we'll be able to cure you right after the winter holidays."

HP

To everyone's relief, however, no further research was necessary, as Remus did not transform during the full moon. He was over the moon with joy, and his mood was contagious to Harry and Severus, who immediately began to make plans for curing the entire werewolf population of their time.

Before the former werewolf left Hogwarts, Minerva asked, "Remus, would you be willing to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, when the position will be vacant the next time?"

"I'd love that," Remus agreed, smiling broadly.

"Too bad that the position is cursed though," Severus spoke up, sighing.

"Cursed?" Harry and Ceridwen asked, simultaneously, making Severus explain about the curse, which Voldemort had cast at the position many years ago.

"Ever since then, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor only lasts a year," he informed them.

"The problem is that we need a new professor every year, and there are barely any good candidates anymore," Minerva added. "Mr. Lupin is only available because of having been a werewolf until now."

"I'll speak with Hogwarts about it. She'll surely be able to lift the curse or in any other way help to keep Mr. Lupin on the post," Harry said in determination.

"That's all I can ask for," Remus replied and once again thanked Harry and Severus, before he stepped into the fireplace and left.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

When Halloween was over, the students' conversations began to more and more revolve around Christmas and the upcoming winter holidays.

 _'We're going to travel home,'_ Harry thought, happily, when he recalled that in order to travel home he had to paint a picture first. _'I really have to be careful with the date though,'_ he thought, resolving to let not only Ceridwen but also Severus and Minerva check if it was correct before travelling.

"Harry, do you have any idea what we could give the founders and our parents for Christmas?" Ceridwen asked one day, causing Harry to gape at her in surprise.

"Oh Merlin, I completely forgot about that," he replied, shocked by his own lack of consideration. "Let's ask Severus and Minerva tonight."

To the children's relief, the professors were not only able but also willing to help the first-years, and Minerva lend them a couple of magazines from the shops, informing them that they could simply owl order items, telling the shops to take the money from the Potter vaults.

Harry and Ceridwen gladly agreed and spent the rest of the evening looking for books that might be interesting for the founders, finally deciding on the not-self-updating version of _Hogwarts: A History_ for Rowena, a book with prank potions for Salazar, a modern healing book for Helga as well as a book about Quidditch for Godric.

"Maybe they can invent Quidditch in our time," Harry said, smirking, causing Ceridwen to chuckle.

"The next time, probably at the beginning of the summer holidays, we should spend a day at Diagon Alley. I heard the others talk about it, and I'd love to go and take a look, plus I'd also like to bring some useful things of this time to my sister and her friends for use in their time."

"We can do that," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "It doesn't matter if we travel home, when everyone else goes home or only on the following day."

Ceridwen let out a long sigh. "It makes no difference, that's true," she admitted, when a sudden thought crossed her mind. "Oh right, we could buy some Christmas ornaments to show them. Let's do that," she suddenly agreed.

"The question is how we're able to return to Hogwarts," Harry said, pensively. "To London, we could just take the Hogwarts Express together with everyone else, but how are we going to come back?"

In the end, they decided to ask Severus, and the professor informed them that he was going to accompany them for their trip to Diagon Alley. "While at Hogwarts, the heads of the houses are the students' guardians, however, when we release students to go home for their holidays, their parents take over the guardianship," he explained, and continued, "I believe that the headmaster is probably Harry's guardian for the magical world, however, since Ceridwen doesn't have a guardian, I see it as my responsibility to ensure your safety. Therefore, we'll accompany everyone to the station at Hogsmeade, and from there, I'll apparate us to Diagon Alley and back, when you're finished shopping."

"Is that really all right for you, sir?" Harry asked, hesitantly.

"Of course; otherwise, I wouldn't have offered," Severus replied, reassuringly.

HP

Unfortunately, with Quidditch practice, lessons with Ceridwen, Minerva and Severus, ordering Christmas presents for everyone at home and brewing together with the Potions master, he was so busy that he did not get around to draw the picture. It was only during the last week before the holidays that he spent his History of Magic class diligently drawing the Christmas tree, which Hagrid had put up in the Great Hall a few days before.

Harry felt extremely contented with himself, once he had finished drawing. _'What date should I put on it though?'_ he wondered. ' _I need to ask Ceridwen,_ ' he finally decided, sliding the drawing into his school bag for the time being.

HP

When he showed her the drawing once they met in their rooms in the evening, Ceridwen looked at the parchment in clear amazement, before she let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but we won't be able to use this," she then said. "You must draw something which exists in our time, for example, the Great Hall, but not a Christmas tree. Remember, we didn't have Christmas trees in our time."

"We need to remedy that, when we're in the past," Harry replied, inwardly sighing at the prospect of drawing another picture for their travel.

"Oh well, you can still draw it when we return from Diagon Alley," Ceridwen replied, pleasantly. "As you said, it doesn't matter when we leave."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After finishing their Christmas shopping, they returned to Flourish and Blotts and made sure to closely observe the large Christmas tree in front of the shop from all sides.

Seeing the professor give them a surprised look, Harry explained, "We want to introduce Christmas trees to our parents and the other founders, so we need to show it to them as detailed as possible."

Smirking, Severus contented himself exploring the show window of the nearby Apothecary until the children were ready to return to Hogwarts.

"Professor, are you sure that you don't want to accompany us to our time?" Ceridwen asked the teacher, who had already refused, when they had asked him and Minerva the first time.

"Thank you for the invitation, Ceridwen," Severus replied, and a small smile played on his lips. "Maybe you could ask the founders if it was all right for Minerva and myself to accompany you during the summer holidays. If they agreed, I'd love to join you, and Minerva will as well."

"We'll ask them," Harry promised, sincerely.

"We're going to leave now, sir," Ceridwen announced. "Thank you so much for taking us to Diagon Alley."

"Happy Christmas, sir," Harry added.

"Happy Christmas and take care. Don't mess up the time to return, and let me know when you're back," Severus replied, smirking.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think._


	13. Christmas

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

When Ceridwen and Harry arrived in the Great Hall on Christmas Eve of the year 991, the founders were gathered together with their parents and siblings.

"Good to be back home," Harry breathed, causing Ceridwen to let out a relieved, "Yeah."

"Ceridwen, Harry!" multiple voices greeted them, before the ladies took turns pulling the time travellers into bear hugs.

"How was the future?" Godric enquired, giving them a look of curiosity.

"It was great," Ceridwen supplied, "but…"

"…Our time is better," Harry finished.

"Does everyone know that you're from the past?" Godric asked, grinning.

"No…"

"Only, Professors Snape and McGonagall…" Harry continued what Ceridwen was going to say.

"… the Slytherin and Gryffindor heads," the girl completed his explanation.

"Now tell Daddy Salazar," Salazar spoke up, looking at the children, "how is Amaterasu?"

"She's fine," Ceridwen replied, quickly.

"She told me that the fireplace had been out for a long time and that it was cold," Harry continued.

"So Harry asked the professor to switch it on for her, and she was happy," Ceridwen explained.

"Which professor?" Salazar asked.

"Professor Snape, sir, the Slytherin Head of House and Potions Master. We took him with us to show him your potions lab, because we wanted to cure a werewolf, and some ingredients were missing in the future," Harry explained, causing the founder to smirk.

 _'He's so like Severus,'_ Harry mused. _'It's obvious that they're related.'_

"We invited him and Professor McGonagall to accompany us…"

"… but they didn't want to come uninvited," Ceridwen completed his sentence.

"Then we will give you an invitation for them for the next holidays," Rowena was the first to respond. "In fact, you need them to come here, so that I can show them my visions. They must help you vanquish the evil in the future. As soon as Christmas is over, I'm going to show you several visions. Godric and I will teach you some spells, which you're going to need sooner or later."

When Ceridwen and Harry told their family about the troll incident, Godric remained pensive for a moment before stating, "I don't know if it's still the same in the future, but if this incident occurred in our time, the girl…"

"Hermione," Ceridwen interrupted him.

"Well, Hermione," the headmaster continued, "would owe the two of you a life debt. Maybe you should figure out how that works in the future. Professors McGonagall or Snape should be able to help with that."

"Not Professor McGonagall," Harry spoke up, frowning.

"She's totally biased for her Gryffindors," Ceridwen agreed.

"Although Hermione is a Ravenclaw," Harry clarified. "Nevertheless, we better ask Severus or even Draco. He comes from a pureblood family."

"If anyone knows such a thing, it's him," Ceridwen concurred, chuckling.

"We have to show you something in Rowena's Pensieve, by the way," Ceridwen changed the topic, turning to her sister.

"Yes, in the future, they have Christmas trees, and they're totally amazing," Harry supplied, causing everyone to laugh in apparent relief at the indication of a completely harmless memory.

Two minutes later, an elf had fetched Rowena's Pensieve, and Harry and Ceridwen eagerly entered their memories of the large Christmas tree in Diagon Alley for the adults to watch.

"Well Sal, shall we head to the forest and fetch a tree?" Godric spoke up in apparent excitement and, together with Salazar's brothers, the men left the Great Hall.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The rest of the evening was spent decorating the tree. While Rowena charmed it, so that its top would be covered by softly falling snow that never reached the floor, Godric taught Ceridwen and Harry to transfigure small stones into beautiful Christmas ornaments similar to those, which he had seen in the children's memories.

"It's beautiful," Ceridwen stated, once they were finished and stepped back from the tree to view it.

"Totally amazing," Harry agreed. Smirking, he took the shrunken presents from his robe pocket, which he still had not taken out after their visit to Diagon Alley earlier the same day. Tapping each item with his wand to unshrink them, he placed everything under the Christmas tree, grinning, when Ceridwen followed his example.

HP

"Oh, it's just too good to be true to be back in our own rooms to stay for more than just an hour or two," Harry said, when they returned to their own rooms on Helga's insistence.

"That's so true," Ceridwen agreed, smiling. "I'm happy that we can just remain here for two weeks."

"Me too," Harry concurred. "I don't think we're going to have much of a holiday though."

"Certainly not," Ceridwen confirmed, chuckling. "They're going to keep us busy practising this and that."

"Oh well, it's important I guess," Harry replied, sighing. "Good night, Ceridwen."

"Sleep well, Harry," Ceridwen said, quickly placing a light kiss on his cheek, before she turned around heading to her own room.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Christmas was a funny affair. Harry woke up by Ceridwen shouting "Merry Christmas."

He stumbled out into the living room, where Helga, Heather and Heath were gathered around the fireplace.

"Good morning and happy Christmas," he mumbled, sleepily.

"Good morning, Harry. Merry Christmas," Ceridwen replied, smiling happily.

"You don't have to get up this early, Harry," Heather said, gently. "It's fully all right to sleep in."

"No, it's fine," Harry replied, enduring gentle hugs from Heather and her two daughters.

"Well, then let's head to the Great Hall for breakfast," Helga suggested, and everyone quickly followed her through the corridors, which not only because of the absence of students but also due to the lack of the many paintings, which decorated the halls in the future, seemed extremely deserted.

To Harry's surprise, everyone was already gathered around the breakfast table, and huge piles of presents had joined his and Ceridwen's under the Christmas tree.

"Shall we open presents first?" Ceridwen blurted out in apparent excitement.

 _'She should know better,_ ' Harry thought with a combination of surprise and amusement. _'They've never let us open presents before breakfast.'_

"No, let's have breakfast first," Helga replied in apparent determination.

As soon as Godric lightly dropped his hand onto the edge of the table, breakfast appeared.

"Is the food in the future different from ours?" Heather enquired, causing Ceridwen and Harry to nod their heads, unison.

"It's a bit different…"

"… but neither better nor worse," the children replied, causing Helga to groan.

"Have you been driving your teachers nuts by always completing each other's sentences?" she asked in apparent annoyance.

"No," Harry replied, smirking, before Ceridwen added, "We're only doing it during the holidays."

 _'At least until we've got some more practice,'_ Harry thought, inwardly grinning.

Before Helga was able to voice a response, her body transformed into that of a Christmas tree, just like everyone else's.

"Salazar!" Rowena hissed, although it somehow sounded like a few dozen small bells composing something similar to a Christmas song.

 _'That's really a neat prank,'_ Harry thought, wondering if Salazar would allow him to take the recipe to the future in order to prank his teachers.

To Harry's and Ceridwen's annoyance, it took two hours before the prank potion wore off and they were finally able to open their presents.

HP

The professors and Ceridwen's parents loved the gifts, which Ceridwen and Harry had bought for them in the future.

 _'This is just amazing,_ ' Rowena blurted out, completely engrossed in her not self-updating version of ' _Hogwarts: A History'_.

"If there are any ingredients, which you don't have in this time…" Ceridwen addressed Salazar, who just returned to the Great Hall with a large, wooden box with small holes in it.

"…Just tell us, and we'll bring them here for you," Harry added.

"Thank you, Thunderbolt and Chatterbox," Salazar replied, eyeing ' _Most Efficient Prank Potions'_ with apparent excitement.

"Here, this is for you," he stated, placing the box in front of Harry.

Harry and Ceridwen exchanged a glance.

"That looks dangerous, Sal," Ceridwen spoke up, eyeing the box with apparent distrust.

"Not for Harry," Salazar conceded, smirking, "considering that he's a Parselmouth."

 _'A snake?'_ Harry wondered, as he approached the box and carefully lifted the lid just a little bit, only to find himself eye to eye with a griffin cub.

"She's a Hygieian griffin cub," Salazar informed him. "She can turn herself invisible at will, and her salvia as well as her tears have special healing powers, similar to phoenix tears. She's a treasure for a Potions Master. Her name is Hygieia."

 _'How amazing,'_ Harry mused _._ Turning to Salazar, he replied, "Thank you so very much. She'll make an amazing pet. Does she understand Parseltongue though?" he asked, incredulously.

Salazar chuckled, causing Godric to roll his eyes in apparent exasperation.

"Of course not," the headmaster informed Harry and advised him, "Bond with her, then you'll be able to easily communicate."

"Would you like to become my familiar?" Harry asked the griffin.

"Yes, I'd love to bond with you," Hygieia replied, slightly fluffing her wings.

An instant later, Harry felt the griffin speak into his mind, 'I took the liberty of bonding to you.'

'That's fine. Can you hear me, too, when I think to you?' Harry thought back, only to receive a confirming response an instant later.

' _Maybe it was indeed strange that I was sorted into Slytherin,'_ Harry thought. _'Considering that I have a griffin as my familiar. Oh well, I received it from Salazar though,'_ he mused, feeling strangely amused at the fact. _'Later on, I'll transform into my griffin form to speak with Hygieia.'_

He became distracted, when Helga laid a similar box in front of Ceridwen.

"Another griffin?" Ceridwen mumbled, as she carefully approached the box, causing Harry to chuckle.

'It's an Aesculapian Kneazle,' Hygieia told him, telepathically, just when Ceridwen took an orange kitten into her arms.

"She's an Aesculapian Kneazle cat," Helga informed them, "the equivalent to Harry's Hygieia. She also has healing powers. On the one hand, her salvia can be added to any potion to strengthen it, on the other hand, her purrs can heal or at least soothe illnesses, against we don't have other remedies. Her name is Neko, by the way."

"Bond with her," Harry advised her, causing Ceridwen to cast him an uncertain look.

"Just ask her; she'll know how to do it," Helga added, smiling.

"Neko, would you like to bond with me?" Ceridwen cooed at the kitten, and, although Harry did not hear a reply, he knew that the kitten had bonded to Ceridwen just by her delighted expression.

'Hygieia, will you become good friends with Neko?' he asked his familiar, who proceeded to walk towards the kitten and gently began to lick its fur, causing the kitten to purr in apparent contentedness.

"Cool," Ceridwen whispered to Harry, who returned a happy smile.

HP

Later, when Ceridwen and Harry returned to their rooms with their familiars in tow, Ceridwen transformed into her feline form and Harry into a griffin – to Hygieia's and Neko's great pleasure.

The four felines spent the whole afternoon cuddling in front of the fireplace, thoroughly enjoying each other's presence.

 _'That was very considerate of Helga and Salazar, to give us familiars according to our Animagus forms,_ ' Harry thought, when he was in bed later on. ' _Today was absolutely brilliant.'_

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

"I've seen lots of visions from the future, but I'm not sure in which order they're going to occur," Rowena informed them, sighing, before she motioned them over to the Pensieve. "Please watch this and tell me if you know that man."

 _'Oh Merlin, it's Professor Quirrell,'_ Harry thought in shock, when the memory played along. He watched himself pulling a red stone out of what seemed to be a mirror, before causing Quirrell to die just by touching the man's skin.

"That's our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," Ceridwen spoke up, as soon as they left the Pensieve.

"My scar always hurts in his presence," Harry added.

"That means that the one possessing it must be the one who gave you that scar," Rowena told him, sighing. "Harry, you're not going to wait for this scene to happen, not only because the evil possessing the man was able to escape, but it would be much too dangerous for you. Godric and I will teach you a spell to get rid of the professor's dangerous guest."

"Thank you so much," Harry replied, feeling utterly relieved to be able to rely on the professors to help him.

During the remaining days of the holidays, Rowena and Godric took much time teaching the children the respective spell to get rid of the possessing spirit.

"This will only work if the spirit is at the front, which you will know because of the pain in your scar," Godric cautioned Harry. "Otherwise, you'll harm the professor if not outright kill him."

"So when Harry feels that the spirit is at the front, he should tell me, so that we can cast the spell together?" Ceridwen voiced, questioningly.

"No, there's another spell, which will call the spirit to the front," Godric spoke up. "We believe that Harry has to cast this one alone though. As soon as he cast it and confirms to you that it worked, you should cast the other spell together."

"Exactly," Rowena confirmed. "Perhaps it would be good if Professors McGonagall or Snape would be present when you accost him. Together, you'll be powerful enough to cast the spell to vanish the spirit, however, it would be much safer in case something doesn't go as planned."

"We'll speak with them," Harry promised, before Ceridwen added, "They'll surely help us."

By the time the children returned to the future together with Hygieia wrapped around Harry's neck and Neko cuddled in Ceridwen's arms, they were well prepared for their task ahead. Neither of them, let alone Rowena, could imagine what grave consequences their future actions were going to cause for Britain's magical world.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think. If there is anything that you would like to see in this story, please let me know. I am not so far ahead in writing. Just so you know: From this point on, this story is going to be a bit darker. Tom will appear very soon..._


	14. Dark spirits

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

To Harry's relief, they arrived in their quarters in the morning of the first of January like planned.

"It's only nine o'clock, so we have the whole day to get used to being back in the future," Ceridwen said, smiling. Making Neko sit on her lap, she took her front paws into both hands, looked into the kitten's eyes and explained, "During the school year, we're going to live one thousand years in the future. We still live at Hogwarts, so nothing much changes."

"Everything probably smells quite differently from our own time though," Harry added.

'As long as you're here with us and we're at Hogwarts, it's no problem,' Hygieia replied, and Harry quickly informed Ceridwen and Neko what his familiar had told him, glad when Neko began to purr in apparent consent.

"Now, when you're finished talking with your pets, shall I call Professor Snape over?" Salazar suddenly spoke up from the portrait of the founders.

"Yes please, Salazar," Harry and Ceridwen replied, simultaneously.

"Godric, could you please inform Professor McGonagall that we're back…"

"… and ask if she would mind coming to see us for a moment?" Harry completed Ceridwen's question, nodding contentedly, when the founder left the painting.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

A few minutes later, the Gryffindor and Slytherin heads stepped into the living room, where they were introduced to Neko and Hygieia, much to the two professors' excitement.

"A Hygieian griffin?" Severus asked, incredulously. "I've heard of them, but they're extremely rare. I'm sure that there's not even one in Britain at this time."

"I've never heard of an Aesculapian Kneazle," Minerva admitted, looking at the kitten in apparent amazement.

"They might be extinct in our time, too," Severus replied.

"Would you mind," Minerva spoke up, sounding uncharacteristically excited, "me transforming into my Animagus form for a moment to speak with Neko and Hygieia if she's able to understand me?"

"Of course not," Harry chuckled, giving the professor an encouraging nod.

After a second, the three felines made themselves comfortable cuddling against each other in front of the fireplace.

"Oh good, now that we've efficiently occupied the professor and our familiars, shall we speak with Severus about Quirrell?" Ceridwen suggested in a small voice, making Harry ponder the matter.

"Perhaps we should tell them together," he contradicted. "Why don't you hand Severus his letters? While he reads them, we could go and unpack."

Ceridwen immediately agreed and handed letters from each of the founders to Severus, who smirked and engrossed himself in his reading. The children headed to their own rooms unpacking their bags, which mostly contained of their Christmas presents, as it was not worth bringing their clothes from their own time to the future anyway.

 _'Thank Merlin, we have our own rooms in both times, where we can just leave everything,'_ Harry thought, gratefully.

When Harry returned to the living room, almost at the same time as Ceridwen, the three felines were still curled up in front of the fireplace, which was now bigger than before.

"I took the liberty of enlarging your fireplace a little. I hope that was all right," Severus spoke up, giving the first-years a questioning look.

"Of course…"

"…. That's fine," the children replied in amusement, images of two griffins and two cats comfortably cuddling in front of the larger fireplace in their minds.

They made themselves comfortable on the sofa, waiting for Minerva to transform back. To Harry's relief, she seemed to notice that the children needed to speak with them and swiftly changed back into her human form.

"Sorry for that," Minerva apologized, causing the children to shake their heads.

"No Professor, that was fully all right, and I'm sure that Neko and Hygieia enjoyed your company very much," Ceridwen replied, smiling.

"Please feel free and come to cuddle with them at any time," Harry added.

"There's something we need to speak about with the two of you though," he continued, while Ceridwen handed Minerva her letters from the founders.

Minerva thanked her and motioned for Harry to go ahead, pocketing the letters in her robe pocket.

HP

"According to Rowena's visions, Professor Quirrell is possessed by the one who gave me my scar," Harry began to speak and shortly explained about the spells, which they were supposed to get rid of the spirit.

"We shall set him up accordingly and cast the spell together," Severus decided, glancing at Minerva.

"Of course," his colleague agreed in apparent determination. "We could call him to the staff room and have the children there under layers of invisibility spells," she suggested.

After a short discussion, during which the professors agreed to refrain from spending a few weeks of their own research and instead trust Rowena Ravenclaw, they decided to pull through with the plan as soon as possible.

"We need to see what events the headmaster is going to come up with, before we'll be able to fix a date," Severus informed them. "I'd suggest a Saturday morning, when you're well rested instead of casting such an important spell after using magic in class. However, we can't do it today, as the headmaster isn't supposed to be aware of your presence at Hogwarts. Next weekend, we have the Quidditch match Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor, which Minerva can't miss, and the following weekend is the first Hogsmeade weekend, and one of us might have to attend as chaperone."

"However, we'll try to make it happen as soon as possible," Minerva promised. She remained pensive for a moment before adding, "I'll speak with Poppy and have her come up with a reason to exempt you from your Defence Against the Dark Arts class for the time being."

"Please go to see Madam Pomfrey right after the welcoming feast tonight," Severus instructed him. "She'll afterwards inform the headmaster, who in turn will inform Quirrell."

Ceridwen gave him an encouraging nod. "Don't worry, Harry, I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey, so you don't have to explain anything to your housemates."

Harry let out a sigh of utter relief. "Thank you all so much for your help. I'd really prefer to not attend any classes with Quirrell anymore, knowing the company he's in."

The professors nodded in confirmation. "Harry and Ceridwen, one thing concerning your familiars," Severus changed the topic. "Please do not tell your classmates or anyone about their special abilities. The fact that you have a griffin alone will allow people to speculate where you were able to obtain an animal which is supposed to be extinct at this time. Since Neko looks like a normal cat, that won't be a problem as long as no one knows about her powers."

"Yes sir," Ceridwen and Harry replied, simultaneously.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The first few weeks of classes passed uneventfully. When his classmates asked Harry in apparent concern why he was exempt from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, he told them something of a muscle problem, on which he had agreed with the healer.

To explain where he had received his griffin was much more complicated. However, Harry merely said that it had appeared in his room on Christmas Day and that he did not have a clue where it had come from. Even if he had the impression that no one really believed him, he stuck to his explanation, merely shrugging at the disbelieving looks he received.

One day at the end of January, Minerva and Severus told the children that they wanted to try casting the spells on Professor Quirrell on Saturday morning. Even if Harry and Ceridwen had somehow got used to getting their overflowing magic in grip when using a wand, the professors still kept up with their evening lessons for the two first-years. They did not necessarily practise during the hour between the last afternoon class and dinner, but also spent much time discussing the time of the founding of Hogwarts, the time of Harry's parents as well as the current situation of Hogwarts. They also confirmed that Hermione owed both of them a life debt, however, emphasized that the girl, since muggleborn, was probably not aware of the fact, and Harry and Ceridwen had promised not to do anything about it anyway.

Severus conjured a dummy like the one, which he had seen in Harry's memory of Rowena's practice with the children, and motioned the children to practise their spell once again, only to vanquish the dummy quickly upon realising that the two first-years could cast it flawlessly.

"The other spell we can't practise, but are you sure that you know how to call him to the front?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow at Harry.

"Yes sir, I'm certain," Harry confirmed.

HP

On Saturday morning right after breakfast, the two friends followed Minerva and Severus to the staff room, where the professors cast an invisibility charm at them, which made them invisible to everyone but the four of them, and instructed the first-years to sit on two comfortable chairs, which stood separated from the table.

"It'll give you some space and also ensure that you won't be too close to Professor Quirrell, so that hopefully your headache won't become unbearable," Severus said, giving invisible Harry a concerned look.

' _I hope Quirrell will come soon_ ,' Harry thought, impatiently, ' _before the professors are going to go through the whole procedure again. They seem to be more excited than Ceridwen and me_.'

At last, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor stepped into the staff room and took a seat opposite of his colleagues. "You wa… wa… wanted to speak with m… m… me?" he enquired.

Although he was automatically tempted to hear the teachers' response, Harry immediately forced himself to cast the spell, which was going to give him an immense headache, unobtrusively nodding his head, as he felt the immediate effect.

"Kill the boy, before he kills me," a strange, high pitched voice shouted. "He must be nearby, invisibly. I can sense him," it continued, causing Quirrell to turn into Harry's direction.

However, before the professor could even reach for his wand, Harry began to cast the well-practised spell, together with Ceridwen and the professors, only to sigh in relief, when the professor slumped on his chair, unconscious, and the headache subsided.

"I think it worked," he breathed, letting himself sink back onto his chair in exhaustion.

He barely noticed when Minerva called the headmaster and the professors told him the story, on which they had agreed beforehand.

"The children got to know that Quirinus was possessed and researched a spell to vanquish the spirit?" Dumbledore asked, incredulously.

"Well, they asked us for help, and we made them practise the spell often enough, before we allowed them to try it," Minerva explained, before she, seemingly impatient, asked the headmaster to check on their colleague and possibly take him to St. Mungo's.

"The headmaster seemed disappointed that we did not come to him for advice," Ceridwen spoke up, once Dumbledore had left with the still unconscious professor.

Harry let out a snort. "Why would we do such a thing?" he enquired. "He was the one who placed me with the Dursleys. I wouldn't trust him to have our best interests in mind."

"Exactly," Minerva replied, grimly.

"Don't worry, Ceridwen and Harry. The headmaster listens to Minerva. If he ever calls you to his office, please inform Minerva and me. You won't have to speak with him on your own. Even if he won't harm you, he might question you or even cast Legilimency.

Harry chuckled, as he replied, "Salazar is a Master Occlumens and has taught us since we were eight. I don't think that Dumbledore would be able to see much in our minds if he tried."

"That's good to hear," Minerva said, smirking. "It's Professor Dumbledore though."

"Did you, by chance, speak with Hogwarts about the curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position yet?" Severus queried.

"Oh no, sir, I'm so sorry; I completely forgot about that," Harry apologised. "I'll speak with her right away."

"That would be good, as I don't deem Professor Quirrell able to teach again and would like to offer the post to Remus Lupin as soon as possible," the deputy headmistress informed him.

"Shall we go to our own rooms for that?" Harry suggested, and Ceridwen and Severus quickly followed him, while Minerva headed to the headmaster's office to wait for Dumbledore to return and give his consent for her to call Remus Lupin.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Harry placed his hand against the wall. "Hi Hogwarts, do you know something about a curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position?" he asked, urgently.

"Hi Harry, that was a wonderful job you did over in the staff room," the castle commended him, before she pondered the matter and said, "There is a curse. Do you want me to try removing it?"

"Yes please," Harry said, giving the wall a hopeful look, "if that's possible."

"Please give me a moment," the old lady's voice instructed him.

Glancing at Ceridwen and Severus, who were both looking at him in clear expectation, Harry waited, before Hogwarts spoke again a minute later.

"There was a curse on the position, but I've cleared it," she informed Harry. "If they hire a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, he should be able to remain on the position as long as he wants."

"Thank you so much, Hogwarts," Harry replied, letting out a deep sigh. "You're the best."

"Only as good as the six founders who built me," Hogwarts replied in a soft voice. "You're very welcome, dear. Speak to me soon, Harry."

"I will," Harry promised, before he slowly removed his hand from the wall.

HP

At dinner time, the headmaster shortly explained that Professor Quirrell had been possessed by Voldemort and that two of his colleagues had destroyed the spirit of Voldemort. "Professor Quirrell was harmed by the possession and is now recovering at St. Mungo's. I don't believe that he will come back to Hogwarts to teach," the headmaster informed everyone and introduced Remus Lupin to the student body as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

 _'He probably doesn't even know that the curse is broken,_ ' Harry thought in amusement, as he carefully fed Hygieia and Neko, who were cuddling next to his feet, some small pieces of chicken.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Lucius Malfoy sat at the desk in his office, putting Draco's letter onto the desk after reading it five times.

 _'They destroyed the Dark Lord's spirit,'_ he mused. _'That means that he isn't dead as many assumed. However, since this spirit is gone, he needs help. I shall be the one to assist him back to full glory, and I'm going to be his right hand. Draco should have told me much sooner, considering that this seems to have happened almost three months ago. I'm going to tell him as much in my letter.'_

"Dobby," he called one of his most trusted house-elves. "There's a black book in the cellar. Fetch it and show it to me."

"Yes Master Lucius," the elf replied promptly and popped away, only to return with the desired object an instant later.

' _Good_ ,' Lucius thought and instructed the elf what to do with the object. "Remain invisible and don't let yourself be discovered," he demanded.

"Yes Master Lucius," Dobby replied and popped away with the Horcrux.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Today, I have a question, as I am just at a point, where I need to decide this: Whom should I pair Harry with? Ceridwen? Ginny? Anyone else? Please let me know - thank you :)_


	15. Study rooms

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"I just love Defence Against the Dark Arts classes with Remus," Harry blurted out one evening, when he and Ceridwen were heading to their own rooms for their lesson with Minerva and Severus."

"He really is a good teacher," Ceridwen agreed, pleasantly. "I'm glad that you cured him from lycanthropy. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have hired him."

"Yeah, that's true," Harry concurred, almost stumbling over Neko.

Neko and Hygieia made it a habit to follow them everywhere, even to the meals in the Great Hall, where they took turns sitting under the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables. During classes, they quietly sat under Harry's and Ceridwen's desk, cuddling with each other.

At first, not only the Slytherins but also the Hufflepuffs had been annoyed that the two friends always sat together in class in spite of belonging to different houses; however, it had only taken a few weeks, before the whole class had ended up sitting in a complete mix. Several students had made friends in the other house, and, considering that none of the professors had scolded Harry and Ceridwen so far, they saw no need to only sit together with their own housemates.

Unbeknownst to the students, the matter was a recurring topic at the teachers' meetings, and during the Easter holidays, the house-elves made study rooms for all seven years – much to the students' pleasure.

When Ceridwen and Harry entered the first-years' study room for the first time after dinner that evening, the whole Slytherin and Hufflepuff first-year class followed them. However, Hermione and Neville were the only students from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

"Hermione and Neville," Ceridwen asked her friends, when she and Harry took them aside during the evening, "will you please ask your housemates to join us, too?"

"I'll try, but you know Ronald Weasley," Neville replied, sighing. "He's completely set against students from other houses, and you know that he seems to hate Harry for some reason."

Hermione let out a snort. "He's just jealous of Harry, for whatever reason," she replied before promising to advertise the study rooms to her housemates.

HP

When Minerva visited the study rooms together with the headmaster on the third evening, she was not really surprised to see that only small groups of less than six students were studying in most of the rooms. Only the first-year study room was almost completely occupied – with the exception of a hand full of Gryffindors.

 _'This is outrageous_ ,' she thought. ' _I'd love to award points to the students, but surely not to all houses apart from Gryffindor_.'

"Five points to Mr. Longbottom for joining the other students as the only boy from Gryffindor," Dumbledore came to her help, causing her to nod contentedly.

"And ten points to Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for overcoming the house rivalry," she added, smiling at the students.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

' _Just a little more than a month and Ron, Percy and the twins are going to come back from Hogwarts_ ,' Ginny Weasley thought, as she returned to her room at the Burrow one evening. ' _I can't wait, and then I'm going to go to Hogwarts together with them_ ,' she mused. ' _I wonder how Harry Potter is. I can't wait to get to know him. Perhaps I can manage to become his girlfriend. He'll surely be happy to get someone as devoted to him as me._ '

Firmly closing the door behind herself, she sat at her desk to once more read the letter, which she had received from the twins earlier that day, when she noticed a black book.

' _Where did that come from?_ ' she wondered, curiously opening the cover.

It was completely blank. ' _Maybe the twins sent it, and I just didn't see it before_ ,' she thought. ' _I could use it as a diary, when I go to Hogwarts_.' Picking up a quill, she carefully attempted to write into it.

 _I am Ginny Weasley, and I'm going to go to Hogwarts soon_ , she wrote, only to stare at the book in disbelief, when a response appeared under her writing.

 _Hello Ginny. I am Tom._

 _Hello Tom_ , Ginny replied in surprise.

 _I loved Hogwarts. Which house are you going to be in?_

 _Probably Gryffindor. My whole family are Gryffindors_ , Ginny wrote back.

 _I was in Slytherin. I am the Heir of Slytherin._

 _Wow, that's cool._

 _When you're at Hogwarts, I can show you something_ , Tom offered, causing Ginny to let out a squeal of excitement.

"Ginny," her mother called from downstairs, "it's time to go to bed."

"Yes Mum," Ginny shouted back and quickly scribbled an apology.

 _I'm sorry, Tom, but I need to go to bed. I'll talk to you soon_.

 _Bye Ginny_.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Harry was very excited. So far, the Slytherins had played Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and had won both matches. ' _As sorry as I'll feel for Ceridwen if Hufflepuff loses, I still hope that I'll be able to catch the Snitch and win the match today_ ,' he mused during breakfast, glad that Hygieia and Neko were sitting under the Hufflepuff table for once. Even if Hygieia was relatively small for a griffin, the two familiars still took some space and above everything demanded his attention, as they expected him to share special bits and pieces of his food with them.

It was a grey, chilly day that did not allow the students and professors to hope that summer was going to commence any time soon, and Harry felt very grateful towards Severus, who had taught him the Impervious spell to cast on his classes before his first Quidditch match back in November. _'I might need it today_ ,' he thought, as he mounted his broom together with his housemates.

He could not help grinning upon realising that Ceridwen was sitting together with Hermione, Millicent, Susan, Neville, Blaise and Draco. ' _Oh well, I guess she's in good hands_ ,' he thought in amusement that grew, when Severus lowered himself into the seat next to the girls. Hygieia and Neko were running around the lake, causing Harry to wonder what they were doing.

He was so engrossed observing his friends and familiars that he only realised that he had completely missed Madam Hooch's introduction, when she released the Snitch and the match began.

Cruising above the game, Harry feverishly began to look for the Snitch, knowing that Cedric Diggory, who was the Seeker for Hufflepuff, was a fifth-year and thus had much more experience playing Quidditch.

Nevertheless, he managed to fool the other Seeker, when he went in a large dive – not because he had seen the Snitch, but just for fun – and pulled up just about two seconds before crashing into the ground.

'Don't do such things,' Hygieia's voice suddenly penetrated his mind. 'If you fall off your broom, I can catch you, but not just above the ground.'

'Sorry,' Harry thought back and returned to concentrating on the Snitch, which he managed to catch a few minutes later.

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch. Slytherin wins," Madam Hooch announced under huge applause from the spectators.

 _'Thank Merlin_ ,' Harry thought, as he slowly descended to the ground, where Ceridwen pulled him into a bear hug. "Don't you dare do such a dive again. I was so worried," she whispered into his ear.

"Sorry dear, I'll try not to do such a thing again," Harry replied, knowing that he would not be able to resist if it was necessary to catch the Snitch.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Too soon for Harry's and Ceridwen's liking, the school year came to an end, and the students had to study for the end of year tests.

For the two time-travellers, who had already attended Hogwarts in the past for three years, the contents of the first-year classes were not difficult, however, it was somehow challenging to not give out just how easy things were for them – especially when studying together with Hermione. The girl had obviously found out that if she had a question, it was always either Harry or Ceridwen who were able to satisfy her curiosity.

"I wonder why the Sorting Hat didn't sort the two of you into Ravenclaw," she said one evening. "You just know everything."

Harry and Ceridwen exchanged a glance, before Ceridwen replied, "That's not true."

"We don't know everything," Harry added. "For example, I don't know why there were so many goblin revolutions during the fourteenth century."

"During the fourteenth century?" Hermione repeated, questioningly. "That was…" She interrupted herself, reaching for her History of Magic text book, "oh whatever; we need to study more."

Harry exchanged an amused look with Ceridwen before returning his attention to the parchment in front of him.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

To Harry's relief, the end of year tests went well, and on top of everything, Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup as well as the House Cup.

At the leaving feast, the Hall was decorated in Slytherin green, and the atmosphere at the Slytherin table was extremely joyful. Everyone already knew that the headmaster had handed the Quidditch Cup to Marcus Flint. The Quidditch captain had proudly given it to their head of house to be placed onto a shelf in the professor's office.

"As long as you're going to be our Seeker, we'll win the Quidditch Cup seven years in a row," Draco whispered to Harry and Blaise, while they waited for the headmaster to open the feast.

Professor Dumbledore congratulated Slytherin house for both successes and listed what everyone already knew: "Gryffindor is in fourth place with 276 points, Ravenclaw in third place with 401 points, Hufflepuff got the second place with 485 points, and Slytherin has managed to gain 501 points. Well done, Slytherin." As an afterthought, he added, "If I could, I'd give the House Cup to the first-years of all houses for their efforts in overcoming the house rivalry. Very well done, first-years."

Huge applause from all houses followed his announcement, before the attention was diverted to the seventh-years, who were going to leave Hogwarts forever the following morning.

' _Our first Hogwarts year in the future is already over_ ,' Harry mused. ' _That was really fast._ '

When everyone was going to leave for the Hogwarts Express the following morning, Ceridwen and Harry would unobtrusively retreat to their own rooms, where Professors McGonagall, Snape and Lupin were going to join them after sending the students off.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Before breakfast in the morning, Harry said good-bye to Draco and Blaise.

"Why?" Draco asked in apparent bewilderment.

"Are you not going to return home on the Hogwarts Express?" Blaise enquired, eyeing him with obvious curiosity.

"Oh Merlin," Harry blurted out in shock at his own stupidity. _'How could I forget to tell them that we're not going to board the train in advance,_ ' he thought, inwardly sighing, as he replied, "Please come to our study room. I'll find Ceridwen, Hermione and Neville and will join you right away. I need to tell you something."

"All right," his two Slytherin best friends replied and made their way to the first-year study room, grinning in anticipation of an interesting story as they went.

HP

Once the six friends were gathered, Ceridwen motioned Harry to speak.

"We need to tell you something, but we must ask you to swear a wizard's oath, respectively a witch's oath to us to keep what we tell you secret," the green-eyed boy informed their friends.

"Please," Ceridwen added.

Draco was the first to swear his oath, and the other three quickly followed his example.

"Thank you so much for doing this for us," Ceridwen piped up, giving Harry an encouraging nod.

"Very well. Only Professors McGonagall, Snape and Lupin know this, and no one else must hear of this," Harry began and quickly explained about his life in the time of the founders of Hogwarts."

"That's why you know so much and are so far ahead," Hermione blurted out, staring at them with what Harry interpreted as admiration.

"We don't know much…"

"… because classes in the past are very different," Ceridwen completed Harry's response.

"So why we're telling you this now is because we're not going to travel home with the Hogwarts Express and won't be able to send you any owl during the holidays," Harry continued. "In order to not attract any attention, we'd like to say good-bye to the four of you now."

"We'll see you back on the first of September," Ceridwen added, smiling.

"Thanks for telling us," Blaise replied.

"I still can't believe it," Hermione added. "When we're back, I'm going to have many questions, and you need to tell us everything about the founders and their time."

"We will," Harry and Ceridwen promised, simultaneously.

"Do you really know the founders? How are they? What kind of spells did they use to construct Hogwarts, and how many students were there at the beginning? Do you know…" Hermione began, however, interrupted herself upon seeing Draco pointing at his watch.

"Mione, we'll answer all questions when we're back," Ceridwen promised in a soothing voice.

"When are you going to come back?" Hermione asked, urgently.

"On the first of September," Harry replied, smirking.

"What about your school supplies and books and…"

"Mione, Professor Snape already helped us with that last year, he'll also buy them or send a house-elf to buy them this year," Harry explained.

"Thank you so much for asking though," Ceridwen added.

"And now it's time to head to the Great Hall for breakfast," Blaise ended the conversation.

"Take care of yourselves," Draco spoke up, before he left the room, closely followed by his classmates.

HP

 _'It's cool that Minerva, Severus and Professor Lupin are going to travel together with us_ ,' Harry thought, when he headed to the founders' quarters right after breakfast. ' _I hope we'll all be able to hold on to the book though, especially since we need to take Hygieia and Neko with us as well._ '

"Don't worry, Harry. The book is large enough for all of us to hold on to it," Ceridwen said, soothingly, when Harry voiced his concern, while they were waiting for the professors to join them.

"I'm glad that we finally told our best friends about ourselves," she continued, causing Harry to agree full heartedly.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

 _Today, my brothers are going to come home from Hogwarts_ , Ginny wrote into her diary. During the last three months, she had led daily conversations with Tom, only to notice that he was very knowledgeable and could explain extremely well. She already felt quite confident, when she thought about her first Hogwarts year.

All of a sudden, she had the impression as if she was just waking up, although she could not recall falling asleep. ' _How strange_ ,' she mused in confusion. ' _The last thing I know was that I wrote to Tom about the others coming back_.'

 _I can't wait for them to come_ , she scribbled, her eyes widening upon reading Tom's response, which appeared immediately.

 _Ginny, look at your night table. There's a pencil. Take the diary in your hand, grab the pencil and say 'The Heir'. The pencil is a Portkey and will take you to the border of Hogwarts. Walk up to the castle, and then I'll show you where to go_.

' _Hogwarts?_ ' Ginny thought in delight and curiously followed the instructions. A moment later, she found herself walking towards the school, which she was supposed to attend from September onwards. ' _Now, it's holidays though, so why are we heading there now?_ ' she wondered as she went.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your continuous kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think. My muse appreciates it greatly. Have a nice week :)_


	16. Sumer holidays

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

Together with the three professors, Harry and Ceridwen arrived in the Great Hall for their summer holidays in the time of the founders.

"It doesn't look different from our time," Minerva spoke up, as she looked around in clear amazement.

"Are you sure that we're in the past?" the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor enquired, causing Severus to smirk and cast an extended tempus charm at the nearest wall.

"It's the first of July, 992, 7:30 a.m." the future Slytherin head sneered.

"Thanks for clarifying this," Harry said, dryly. "Since no one has arrived for breakfast yet, I suggest that we head to the headmaster's office."

"Why Harry, we could just take them to the guest quarters, where Salazar's brothers stayed over Christmas, so they can leave their luggage, and then come back on time for breakfast," Ceridwen contradicted. "Considering that the holidays have probably begun about two weeks ago, Godric might not be in his office yet."

"All right," Harry agreed, smiling. "No," he then corrected himself. "We're going to make new guest quarters for them, so that they can leave their clothes of this time for the next holidays. You know how grateful we are to have our own rooms."

"Oh, that's true," Ceridwen concurred and, turning to the professors, she said, "Please follow us. With Hogwarts' help, it'll only take us five minutes to make the rooms."

Passing the hospital room and the founders' quarters, which the professors already knew from the future, Harry and Ceridwen stopped in front of the blank wall.

Harry laid his hand against the wall. "Hi Hogwarts," he said, "we're back, and our three guests are our professors from the future. We need to make guest quarters for them with maybe one living room and three single rooms each equipped with a bathroom. Will you please help us?"

"Of course dear," Hogwarts replied, gently.

Thanking the castle, Harry released the wall and instead pointed his hand at the wall and made a room like he had done so many times before. Adding a charmed window to the left side wall, he made three doors opposite the entrance door.

Inside, Ceridwen assisted, and under the watchful eyes of their professors, who merely stared in clear amazement, the two children made the guestrooms for the professors. Each bedroom was equipped with a bathroom, and all rooms held charmed windows allowing the view onto the lake.

"Professors, these are your own rooms for you to use as you please. They will even be at the same place in the future," Harry informed the adults. "Since you've much more experience with magic, I suggest that you see to the decorations yourselves."

"Feel free to decorate them to your likings, as these are your rooms, and no one else will come in here. Even if the founders came to visit you, it wouldn't matter, as they're all aware of our connection to the future," Ceridwen added.

Profusely thanking the children, the professors pulled their wands and busied themselves decorating their own rooms.

In the meantime, Harry thanked Hogwarts for her help, before he and Ceridwen relaxed on the most comfortable, black leather sofa, which Severus had conjured for the living room.

"Harry, shall we add the charm to the window that Rowena added to the headmaster's office?" Ceridwen suggested. "Maybe it'll become useful in the future."

"Great idea. Do it," Harry replied, smiling.

Standing right in front of the charmed window, Ceridwen cast the spell, which Rowena had taught them several years ago.

"What does that charm do?" Minerva asked, curiously, causing the children to realise that the professors were finished with their bedrooms and were standing behind them.

"It allows you to display any room in the castle," Ceridwen explained. "Show the Great Hall," she told the window, and the view instantly changed displaying the Great Hall.

"You can tell the window to show any room at Hogwarts or even a spot on the grounds except for the teachers' private chambers," Harry informed them. "Just tell it what you want it to show."

"Breakfast is just about to begin though," Ceridwen stated, and the five time-travellers made their way out of the guest quarters.

"Do we need to lock the door somehow?" Severus enquired, quirking an eyebrow.

"No," Harry replied, shrugging. "The students aren't here anyway. Maybe before we leave for the future, we can add a painting to guard the rooms, but right now, there's no need."

Seeing Ceridwen nod her agreement, everyone accepted their decision and followed Hygieia and Neko to the Great Hall for their second breakfast that day.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After greeting the children with apparent enthusiasm, which involved bear hugs from Helga and Rowena, the founders were introduced Minerva, Severus and Remus.

"Welcome to our time, Professors," Godric addressed them.

"I'm sorry to intrude without even an invitation," Remus Lupin spoke up, causing Salazar to snort.

"Rubbish," he bellowed. "If Chatterbox and Thunderbolt bring you, you don't need any further invitation."

Harry inwardly grinned, noticing that Ceridwen slightly blushed, while Severus smirked in obvious amusement.

"Thank you sir," the future Defence Against the Dark Arts professor replied, smiling.

"I'm not a sir to any professor of Hogwarts," Salazar informed him, smirking. "My name is Salazar."

"I'm Remus," the former werewolf replied, "and I need to profoundly thank you for inventing the wolvescure, which Harry and Severus used to cure me from lycanthropy."

"You're very welcome," Salazar said, for once without any sneer on his lips.

"I believe that we're the ones to have to thank the three of you though," Rowena spoke up, "for helping our heirs throughout their first year in the future."

"Yes," Helga agreed. "It's a great relief for us knowing that they have you to take care of them."

"I believe that the assistance went both ways," Severus spoke up. "They did extremely well getting rid of the Dark Lord's spirit, and they've united the houses of Hogwarts, which have been suffering from house rivalry for a very long time. Above everything, Harry showed me to your Potions lab, thus enabling him and me to cure Remus in the first place."

"That reminds me," Minerva blurted out, "did you not intend to cure all the werewolves in our time?"

"Yes, we intend to do so," Severus replied, glancing at Harry.

"To do that, we'd need to inform the headmaster about Remus being cured and about the wolvescure. Since he doesn't know about Ceridwen and me being from this time, it would be difficult, and we haven't come up with a solution yet," Harry admitted in a small voice.

"Why don't you just tell him the truth?" Godric enquired.

"Because we don't really trust him to have our best interests at mind," Harry explained, letting out a long sigh.

"He was the one to place Harry with his atrocious relatives," Remus informed the founders.

"In spite of the fact that many of us protested against it and that there were many people apart from us willing to take Harry in," Minerva added.

"In fact, it's much worse," Severus spoke up, sighing. "Please allow me to show you a memory later on, which I cannot share with Harry for some reason."

"I suppose an oath is involved?" Rowena asked, bluntly.

"Not only that," Severus breathed, admitting, "I made grave mistakes in the future, and Dumbledore was the one who saved me from an abhorred fate."

"Severus," Helga spoke up in a soft voice, "you might not know this, but Harry is the heir not only of Godric and Rowena, but through his mother Lily, he's also a direct descendant of Salazar and myself." Turning to Harry, she apologised, "I'm sorry, dear, but we only discovered this recently. Due to the many squibs the line produced, it wasn't easily detectable in the first place. Anyway, as our heir and our co-founder, Harry is the owner of Hogwarts together with Ceridwen, who is not only my sister but a co-founder as well. As the owners of Hogwarts and our heirs, they should possess enough power in the magical world to help you if the headmaster fails."

"Apart from that, from my visions I know that Harry's godfather is the Lord Black, one of the most influential figures of Britain's magical world of the twenty-first century," Rowena added, smiling.

"Sirius Black is in Azkaban for giving out Harry's parents to Voldemort and killing thirteen muggles," Remus replied in a grave voice.

"I'm not certain if that's true," Rowena assessed, pensively. "I've got many visions to share with you, and maybe there are some problems, which you can more or less easily remedy."

"Are you feeling all right now, Rowena?" Ceridwen asked in concern. "Do you still get so many visions?"

"Yes dear, I'm fine now," Rowena said, smiling at the girl. "Helga and Salazar developed a potion for me, which is not addictive, and I'm going to take it during the whole summer, so that I won't get any visions right now. Only when you'll be back in the future, I'm going to allow them again, in case there's something that I need to tell you in winter."

"Sorry Rowena, and thanks a lot," Harry replied, gratefully.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Tom stretched his limps, glaring at the ghost that dared splash water onto him. ' _Ah, it's good to have my own body_ ,' he thought, glancing at the red-headed girl that was motionlessly lying on the bathroom floor.

Taking the girl's wand, he turned to the door and cast a spell to only allow the door to open by a password cast in Parseltongue. ' _Now I only need a house-elf to bring me food and something to drink and wait here until the girl's dead_ ,' he thought, contentedly. ' _Then I can finally have my life back. At least no one can disturb my plans here. Even if the old fool gets to know about our presence here for some reason, he won't be able to open the room and get to us_.'

"Lissy," he called a house-elf, of whom he knew that she belonged to Abraxas Malfoy, hoping that she was still alive and a member of the Malfoy family.

An instant later, a very old house-elf appeared. "Yes sir, what can Lissy do for you?" the elf enquired.

"Lissy, ask your master to send the elf who cared about the diary to help me during the next two months. I need food and water among other things," Tom instructed the elf, who nodded and popped away in a blink.

A few minutes later, another elf popped into the room.

"Hello Master's Master, sir. I is Dobby, and I wills care for yous," the elf introduced himself, only to add, "Master Lucius says to tells yous that he can't waits for his Master to return."

"Bring me something to eat," Tom ordered, and an instant later, a small table, on which a full meal was laid out, appeared in front of him.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After three hours of eating breakfast while talking about this and that in excitement, the four founders ushered the five time-travellers into the headmaster's office, where Rowena's Pensieve was sitting on Godric's desk.

"Perhaps you already know this from the future," Rowena began to speak, "however, for us here it's still new, as I only invented it yesterday." Seeing everyone look at her with apparent curiosity, she cast a spell at the Pensieve and started the first memory, which began to play just above the Pensieve.

"No, we don't know this spell in the future," Remus was the first to speak. "This is absolutely amazing."

"You only have to think of the memory you want everyone to watch, and cast the spell to start it," Rowena explained, before she stopped the memory.

"Now, as I said, I had many visions; however, today, I suggest that we begin with the memories about Harry's birth parents and his godfather," she continued.

"Yes please," Harry voiced, barely audibly.

 ** _Begin of vision_**

 _They found themselves in a dark stone room, where someone was sitting on what seemed to be a throne._

"Tom Riddle," Minerva breathed.

"The Dark Lord," Severus added.

 _A hooded person approached and bowed deeply. "My Lord, the Potters' residence is at 52 Church Road, Godric's Hollow."_

 _"Thank you, Wormtail. You will be greatly rewarded," the person on the throne replied._

 _End of vision_

"Sirius was not their Secret Keeper. It was Pettigrew," Remus spoke up in apparent disbelief.

"Very well, are you ready for another vision?" Rowena asked, smirking.

"Please," Remus was the first to respond.

 ** _Begin of vision_**

 _A sturdy man, of whom Remus quickly informed everyone that it was Pettigrew, was standing on a busy street in muggle London. A much taller man walked up to him as if to verbally attack him; however, before he could even begin, the first man began to shout._

 _"It's him, Sirius Black; he gave Lily and James out to Voldemort!" With that, he waved his wand and cast a spell that blew up the whole street and its surroundings. Unbeknownst to the world looking at the distraction, he cut of one of his fingers and transformed into a small garden rat, quickly fleeing from the spot._

 _End of vision_

"It was all Pettigrew; Sirius is completely innocent," Minerva spoke up, sounding happy.

"Poor Sirius. He spent more than ten years in Azkaban, being completely innocent," Remus added, letting out a deep sigh.

"This Sirius person is my godfather; did I get that right?" Harry enquired.

"Yes Harry, Sirius was your father's best friend and your godfather. He is a dog Animagus and always transformed into his dog form letting you ride on him. You had much fun together," Remus informed him, smiling.

"All right, so as soon as we're back, we need to get him out of Azkaban," Harry said in determination. "Will you help us, please?" he added, looking from Remus to Severus.

"Yes," the Potions master promised; however, Harry had the impression as if something was bothering the older wizard.

"Severus?" he asked, hesitantly, "is something wrong?"

"No." The professor shook his head. "It's just that Black and I never had a good relationship."

"Severus," Remus addressed his colleague. "We were boys, and yes, they were reckless, but we've all grown up, and Sirius has been punished more than necessary by his undeserved stay in Azkaban. Now he needs our help. Will you please forgive him? We need you, and he'll need you, too."

"I don't suppose that I'll ever forget, but I'll try to forgive," Severus replied, sounding slightly grumpy.

"That's all we can ask for," Remus stated, smiling. "Thanks Severus."

"I can't believe it," Severus suddenly groaned, causing everyone to stare at him in surprise. "Dumbledore cast the Fidelius charm at Lily's and Potter's residence, didn't he?" he asked, turning to Remus.

"I always thought so," Remus confirmed.

"Then he would have known who was the Secret Keeper," Severus continued, glancing at Harry. "Why in the world did he tell the ministry that it was Black?"

"I believe that I need to show you some further memories," Rowena replied, grimly.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think._


	17. The Marauders Map

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

Apparently sensing that the time-travellers were not in the mood to watch any further memories right now, the founders decided to discuss their plans for the holidays first.

"Let me ask the five of you what you'd like to study here in our time," Godric spoke up.

"For Thunderbolt and Chatterbox, we've already made some plans though," Salazar added in a firm voice.

"Maybe you could inform us about the plans for the two of them first?" Severus enquired, making Harry chuckle at the resemblance of the two Potions masters, who were quirking eyebrows at each other.

"Well, Ceridwen clearly wants to study Healing, and I thought that I'd teach her with the goal of taking her OWLs at the end of the holidays," Helga spoke up in a soft voice, giving her sister a questioning look.

"Oh, that would be brilliant," Ceridwen replied to the unasked question. "Thanks Helga."

"For Harry, it's not much different," Rowena continued. "Salazar wants to teach him, so that he can take his Potions OWL at the end of the holidays, and I'd love to make him take the Runes OWL at the same time, provided that he wants it."

"Of course," Harry blurted out. "Thanks so much, Rowena and Salazar."

"For Remus, I could offer to teach you Sword Fighting and general Defence," Godric suggested, causing Remus to eagerly nod his head.

"Yes please, thank you very much, Headmaster," he replied with apparent enthusiasm.

When Rowena promised Minerva to teach her Transfiguration and Charms spells of her time and Salazar agreed with Severus to exchange Potions knowledge of their respective times with each other, everyone was happy.

HP

Harry and Ceridwen enjoyed themselves so much that the time passed in a blur. Almost too soon, Harry's birthday was upon them, and the Great Hall was beautifully decorated for the celebration.

 _'Oh Merlin, if it's my birthday already, we only have three weeks before I have to take the OWLs in Potions and Runes and Ceridwen in Healing_ ,' Harry thought in shock. ' _Time passes much too quickly_.'

The four founders each gave him books for his birthday, which they had specifically complied for him. While Salazar's book contained mostly prank potions, Helga's held healing spells, which were simple but useful and not characterised as those healing spells for which a healing license was needed. Rowena's book was full of interesting Charms, and Godric's book was about Hogwarts' secrets and the rules of the British magical society.

"Thank you all so much," Harry said, gratefully, looking up from his books, when Remus pressed a flat present into his hand.

"Go on, open it," the former werewolf encouraged him, smiling.

When Harry carefully took off the future wrapping paper, he found a blank parchment. Glancing at Remus, he saw the older wizard smiling at him.

"This is my copy of a map, which the Marauders, means my friends including your father, made while we were at Hogwarts. The Marauders Map," Remus explained.

Harry stared at the blank parchment with a combination of disbelief and excitement, when it suddenly came to life.

"Padfoot, Wormtail, Moony and Prongs greet you. We can sense the heir of the Marauders. Please state your name," the map told him.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry replied, timidly.

"Then you must be Prongslet," the map stated and informed him, "The activation code for the map is 'I swear that I'm up to no good'."

"I swear that I'm up to no good," Harry uttered, before he unfolded the map, staring at the fine, black lines that displayed the corridors of Hogwarts in amazement.

"It displays the people at Hogwarts," Ceridwen blurted out, pointing to the nine black dots in the Great Hall, each of them accompanied by a name.

"Remus, please instruct me how to make such a map," Rowena addressed the Marauder.

"I will," Remus promised, sincerely, before he taught Harry the deactivation password.

"Please don't tell anyone else about it," Harry said, looking from Remus to Rowena.

"We wouldn't want the teachers in the future to know about it," Ceridwen added, causing Severus to snort.

"Mischief managed," Harry uttered, before he folded the map and pocketed it.

HP

The time-travellers spent the following weeks continuing to study with the founders, and before Harry realised how fast time passed, the test days arrived. On the first day, Ceridwen had to take her Healing OWL, however, for the girl, who had grown up with her mother and sister being healers, the test was easy. Harry had studied much during the holidays, and he also managed his Runes and Potions OWLs without problems. While he felt very confident with Potions, he was not so certain about Runes; however, he was fairly sure that he had at least passed both tests.

 _'Too bad that we're only going to find out about the results, when we come back home for Christmas,_ ' he thought, when he readied himself to return to the future on the last day of the summer holidays.

This time, Ceridwen had drawn the picture for them to return to the founders' quarters on the twenty-fifth of August before the beginning of their second Hogwarts year in the future.

"Harry, are you sure that you still want to attend the second-year Potions class?" Severus suddenly enquired. "It must be boring for you, even if I'll always be grateful if you save us from a Longbottom disaster."

"Neville is not so bad," Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "He just needs some help and encouragement."

"Well, I'll think about giving you sixth-year's assignments, which you can work on, while officially attending your second-year class," Severus concluded, pensively.

"That would be great, sir. Thank you so much for your consideration," Harry agreed, smiling.

"Too bad that we won't be able to travel to the Great Hall. Do we need to cast a cushioning charm on everyone?" Severus queried, quirking an eyebrow.

Harry chuckled. "No sir, after our first experience, Rowena taught me a charm, which we have cast all around the living room of our quarters in the future. We'll be fine."

After long-lasting good-byes to the four professors, which they all had got to know so well, Harry and Ceridwen picked up their familiars, and the five time-travellers held on to the book, which made the world turn around, until they found themselves in the future.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Ceridwen looked at the continuous time display on the ceiling, which Harry had cast a year ago, and nodded, contentedly. "It's nine-o-clock in the morning of the twenty-fifth of August, 1992," she stated.

"Well done, thank you so much," Minerva was the first to reply. "Now, considering that the headmaster mustn't know about your presence at Hogwarts, I suggest that you remain in your quarters at all times."

"Even your familiars should remain here," Remus added, sighing.

Harry shook his head. "No, they can leave through Salazar's chamber," he contradicted. "There's a passage leading into the chamber right behind our bathroom. From the chamber, they can get right into the forest."

"That reminds me that we should go and renew the spell for Amaterasu, so that no one can be harmed by her," Severus spoke up. "Considering that Harry can't leave these rooms, maybe Remus could cast it together with me."

Everyone agreed, and the three professors left, promising to come back later on. "We won't be able to spend much time here together," Severus warned them. "Perhaps Remus and I will join you for lunch, and Minerva for dinner or the other way round. We don't want the headmaster to become suspicious."

"That's fine with us," Ceridwen and Harry replied, simultaneously.

"I won't be around at lunchtime," Remus spoke up. "I'm going to head to the Ministry of Magic to speak with Amelia Bones."

"I'll accompany you," Minerva added. "Harry, would it be all right for you if we tell Amelia the truth, provided that she swears a Witch's oath to keep it to herself? She's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and a formidable woman."

"Of course, Professor," Harry agreed, smiling. "I wished I could go with you."

"We'll see," Minerva replied, returning the smile.

"Oh, just one more thing," Remus suddenly remembered, "do you know any house-elf who could bring you something to eat in case none of us manages to join you for a meal?"

"No sir," Harry and Ceridwen replied in surprise.

"Harry, try to call Gina," Remus advised him. "She's the head house-elf of Potter Manor. She should be able to come here to you."

"Gina!" Harry called, and a small house-elf wearing a jump suit that was decorated with the Potter crest popped up in front of him.

"Master Harry," the elf squealed in apparent delight.

"Well, we'll leave you to your bonding with your elf and are on our way," Severus sneered, and the adults left.

The children spent an hour speaking with Gina about this and that, before they asked the elf to see to it that they would receive three meals a day during the remaining days of the holidays.

"Gina will see to it," the elf promised, seemingly happy. "The Hogwarts elves might be unable to access the quarters of the founders of Hogwarts, but my elves and I will be able to care for you, since you're living here."

HP

Once the elf had left, the children unpacked their bags, which were filled with various items from the past along with Harry's birthday presents.

Finally, Harry returned to the living room, bringing the Marauders Map with him.

"Ah, is that the Marauders Map?" Ceridwen asked, pleasantly, as she made herself comfortable next to him on the sofa. "Let's see where the headmaster is."

Rolling his eyes in exasperation at the thought of the old wizard, Harry activated the map and checked the area of where he knew the headmaster's office to be.

"He's not in his office," he stated, letting his eyes wander in the direction of the Great Hall.

"Who's that?" Ceridwen suddenly spoke up, pointing to three black dots.

"Ginevra Weasley, Myrtle Warren and Thomas Riddle," Harry deciphered, giving Ceridwen a questioning look.

"I don't have a clue," Ceridwen replied to his silent question, "neither who that is nor where they are."

"Maybe an unused classroom on the first floor?" Harry guessed. "Oh well, we can ask Minerva, Remus or Severus later on," he decided and proceeded to check out the book with Salazar's prank potions with the intention of using one on the teachers' table at the welcoming feast. "Remind me to use the one with the Christmas trees on everyone at the leaving feast before Christmas," he mumbled, absentmindedly, causing Ceridwen to grin in anticipation.

HP

Minerva, Severus and Remus went to see the headmaster, having agreed to return to Hogwarts in the morning of the twenty-fifth of August.

Dumbledore seemed happy to see them, giving them the impression as if he had been lonely at Hogwarts.

"I tried to reach you, however, I couldn't find you anywhere," the headmaster said, almost reproachfully.

"I'm sorry, but I was buried in my lab," Severus replied.

"I was visiting my sister in America," Minerva lied.

"I spent some time visiting an old friend," Remus followed his colleagues' example.

"The youngest Weasley child vanished right before her older brothers returned from Hogwarts," Dumbledore informed them.

"Ginny Weasley?" Minerva asked, horrified, in spite of knowing exactly who the youngest child of the red headed family was.

"Ginevra Weasley, and she has yet to be found," the old wizard replied, letting out a long sigh.

"Did we miss anything else during our absence?" Severus drawled, knowing that they were not able to assist the headmaster in his search for the girl anyway.

"No," Dumbledore replied and dismissed them, instructing them to show up in the Great Hall for dinner.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After dinner the same evening, Minerva, Severus and Remus joined Harry and Ceridwen in the founders' quarters.

"Did Dumbledore notice that you were gone?" Harry asked, compassionately, once they had made themselves comfortable in the living room.

"He's suspicious, but of course he doesn't know the truth," Severus replied, smirking.

"He went to search for us, because Ginevra Weasley has gone missing, and he wanted to enlist our help to find her," Minerva added, sighing.

"Ginevra Weasley?" Harry repeated, alert, turning to Ceridwen. "Wasn't that the name on the map?"

"On the Marauders Map?" Remus blurted out. "Is she at Hogwarts?"

Harry nodded before activating the map. "Yes, she's together with a Myrtle Warren and a Thomas Riddle," he confirmed, noticing that the three dots had not moved in the meantime.

"Tom Riddle is the Dark Lord," Severus uttered, and Harry realised that his face had completely lost its colour.

"Where is it?" Minerva enquired.

"It's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Remus informed them, pointing to the black dot of Myrtle.

"Harry, Ceridwen, you're going to stay here," Severus instructed them in a firm voice, before the professors hurried out of the room.

"Do they really just expect us to sit here and wait?" Harry growled, feeling thoroughly annoyed with the professors, however, knew on the other hand, that the headmaster could not know that they were already at Hogwarts.

"Let's watch on the map," Ceridwen suggested, and they both observed how the professors stood a few steps away from the three dots in the room, before Severus' point returned to their quarters.

"Harry, please come and try if you can open the door in Parseltongue," Severus told him, as he strode towards the door that Ceridwen was holding open for him.

"All right," Harry replied and dashed away, closely followed by the Potions Master.

The door opened on a hissed, "Open."

Before anyone could make him return to his rooms, Harry entered the bathroom, finding him face to face with an older boy, who had his wand pointed at him, while a girl was lying on the floor, seemingly dead.

Quickly casting a strong Protego charm in front of himself and the three professors, he watched how Remus and Severus fought the wizard, while Minerva helped him keep up the charm.

When Severus efficiently cast what Harry supposed was a dark spell at Tom, he managed to hit the boy, who began to bleed profusely.

"Dobby," the boy called a house-elf, who appeared in a blink, quickly cast a spell that made the bleeding stop and popped away with the boy without even acknowledging the others.

"Ginny," Minerva blurted out, and everyone hurried over to the girl. "Is she alive?" she asked, urgently, as Severus leaned over the girl.

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think. My muse will appreciate it greatly._


	18. Letters

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World**  
 **by Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 _Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel._

* * *

"She's barely alive," the Potions master replied in a grave voice. "We must take her to St. Mungo's immediately."

"Severus, please take her. I'll call the Weasleys," Minerva spoke up, urgently. "Remus, please take Harry back to his rooms and then go and inform the headmaster."

"Lupin," Severus addressed his colleague, while pointing his wand at a black book that was lying discarded on the floor to make a Portkey, "don't mention Harry. You saw them on the Marauders Map and fetched us to go to the bathroom together."

"All right," Remus agreed. "Come Harry."

"Professor," Harry spoke up, pensively, as they walked along the corridor, "was that Voldemort?"

"Apparently yes," Remus said, sighing. "You may still call me Remus though, as long as it's not in front of other students."

"All right, sir, sorry. I mean, how…" He slowly trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I don't have a clue. Maybe Severus or Professor Dumbledore know more and can enlighten us."

"Did you go to see Madam Bones?" Harry enquired.

"We tried, but she was in a meeting with the Unspeakables," Remus replied, sighing. "We'll try to contact her again tonight. She needs to know that Voldemort is back, too."

"Oh, all right," Harry agreed in understanding. "If there's anything that Ceridwen and I can do, please let us know, and please keep us updated."

"We will, Harry. I'll be back later," Remus promised, before he hurried away in order to inform the headmaster.

"Ceridwen," Harry addressed the girl once he sat next to her on the sofa, "I know that I forgot something while we were in the past." Noticing her questioning look, he explained, "I intended to ask Sal to teach us Telepathy. Now it would really come handy in order to communicate with Severus."

"Is he able to use Telepathy?" Ceridwen enquired and, seeing Harry nod, suggested, "Then we could simply ask him if he's willing to teach us."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Severus was sitting in the small hospital room, while the healers fussed about the unconscious child. _'I just hope Minerva will be here, before Molly annoying Weasley is going to show up,'_ he thought, at the same time wondering how the Dark Lord had managed to get a corporate body. _'I thought Harry had vanquished his spirit last winter,'_ he thought in extreme annoyance.

"Professor Snape," one of the healers suddenly addressed him and, seeing that he looked up, explained, "Good news first, Ms. Weasley is going to survive her ordeal. We'll even be able to release her into the care of Madam Pomfrey, provided that she'll agree to care for her in spite of the fact that school isn't running yet."

"That won't be a problem," Severus assured the healer, knowing that the Weasleys did not have the money to pay for a lengthy stay at the hospital. "And the bad news?" he enquired, tentatively.

"The bad news…" the healer interrupted himself, when Minerva strode into the room, closely followed by the Weasley parents.

"I'm going to fetch Poppy," Severus stated and hurriedly left the room towards a fireplace, leaving the healer to broaden the news to the Weasley matron.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Harry and Ceridwen looked up in surprise, when Remus returned to the founders' quarters just an hour after he had left for the headmaster's office.

"Professor Dumbledore went to see the Minister of Magic," he informed them. "I'm going to try to reach Amelia Bones. Do you know if the fireplace here is connected to the Floo network?"

"I don't think so," Harry replied, shrugging. "Do you think you could connect it?"

"I could try," Remus said, pensively. "The question is if it would be better to connect this one or the one in our guest quarters."

Harry and Ceridwen exchanged a glance. "I don't see any difference," Ceridwen finally said. "Please go ahead and try, sir."

"The headmaster won't know about this, will he?" Harry asked, when a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Remus, wait. Let me ask Hogwarts about it."

"Oh, that's a good idea," the older wizard agreed, and Harry quickly placed a hand against the wall.

"I can connect this fireplace," the old lady said in a gentle voice, "and no, the headmaster won't know about this."

A moment later, she informed them, "You can now try to use the fireplace. It's connected to the normal Floo network and also to the internal Floo network, however, only people who are able to enter these quarters can use it. No one else will be able to recognise the fireplace let alone floo here."

Harry sighed in relief. "Thank you so very much," he replied, slowly taking his hand off the wall.

Remus pulled a small bag with Floo powder out of a robe pocket and leaned into the fireplace, "Amelia Bones," he called out.

An instant later, a female head appeared in the flames.

"Amelia," Remus greeted her, gently. "I'm sorry to disturb you in your evening, however, we need to urgently speak with you."

"Shall I step through?" the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement offered.

"Harry, may Amelia step through?" Remus asked. "She needs your approval to enter these rooms, and I strongly suggest that you give it."

Harry knelt next to Remus. "Madam Bones, please visit us in the founders' quarters at Hogwarts," he said in a soft voice, before he stepped back to allow the lady to Floo over.

As soon as Remus vacated the spot, Amelia Bones stepped out of the fireplace.

"This is Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Remus introduced the witch, before he pointed to the children and said, "Harry Potter and Ceridwen Hufflepuff."

"Good evening, Madam Bones," Harry and Ceridwen greeted the witch, who seemed very friendly. "Excuse me, Madam, but are you perhaps related to Susan?" Ceridwen enquired, smiling.

"Susan is my niece," Amelia informed her. "She's told me that you're one of her dormmates, and I'm glad to get to know you and Mr. Potter."

"Just call me Harry please, and the pleasure is just on our side," Harry replied, sincerely. "This is not just a social call though, as we have two pressing matters to discuss with you." Seeing that Remus gave him an encouraging nod, he continued, "Before we can reveal anything to you, we must ask you to swear us a witch's oath to not tell anyone about Ceridwen's and my secret."

Seeing Remus nod in consent, Amelia took her wand and swore her oath, causing the children to inwardly sigh in relief.

"Thank you very much," Ceridwen spoke up before motioning Harry to continue.

Harry informed the witch about his time travel and his life in the time of the founding of Hogwarts, before he came to the point. "The first issue concerns my godfather, Sirius Black. You might not know this, but Rowena Ravenclaw was a Seer. She had many visions about our time, which was in fact the reason why Ceridwen and I were sent to attend Hogwarts in this time. Anyway, she made us watch two of her visions, from which it became clear that everything, for which Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban, was conducted and done by Peter Pettigrew."

"Would you like to watch the memories?" Ceridwen offered, pointing to the Pensieve, which she had fetched from Harry's room, when Remus had called Amelia.

"This is a Pensieve?" Amelia enquired, eyeing the Pensieve with apparent interest.

"Yes, I received it from the founders, before we came here for our first year," Harry explained, unsure as to why it caused Amelia's attention.

"Oh, that's why it has such an antique touch," Amelia replied, smiling. "Sorry Mr. Potter, it's fine."

"Please just call me Harry," Harry repeated and cast the spell, which Rowena had taught them a couple of weeks ago to make a memory float over the Pensieve.

After viewing the two memories, Amelia shook her head in exasperation. "First thing tomorrow morning, I'll have Sirius Black brought to the ministry, and I'm going to check why he was sent to Azkaban in the first place. Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention."

"Thank you, Amelia," Remus spoke up. "Now, the second point is about something that happened today. Harry, will you show us the memory, please?"

The boy agreed and quickly showed Amelia the memory of how they had discovered and fought Voldemort, before he called a house-elf and was popped away.

"Do you know what happened to Ms. Weasley?" Amelia enquired, clearly shocked.

"Professor Snape took her to St. Mungo's, but he isn't back yet," Ceridwen informed her in a grave voice. "He said that she was barely alive."

"I'll look into this as well. Thank you very much for the information. If you will excuse me, I'll go back to my office and do some research. If you see Professor Snape, please ask him if he by chance knows to whom house-elf Dobby belongs."

"We'll ask him," Harry promised, knowing that Severus was going to come by as soon as he was back at Hogwarts.

"Thank you, Amelia," Remus replied, sighing. "Please keep us updated on either matter."

"At least the second point will involve the Unspeakables," Amelia informed them. "Would you be willing to speak with them?"

"Of course," the children reassured her, simultaneously.

"Please remember that we're not supposed to be at Hogwarts yet, as the headmaster is not privy of our secret," Harry warned her. "They'll only be able to contact us through owl or this fireplace."

 _'She's really nice,'_ he thought, absentmindedly observing how the older witch stepped back into the fireplace and vanished in the green flames.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Narcissa Malfoy locked herself into her bedroom, threw herself onto her bed and cried, glad that Lucius was not able to enter her room without her consent anymore. ' _I can't believe it_ ,' she thought, furiously. ' _Bad enough that he stepped into his father's footsteps and bowed to that evil man, but inviting an incarnation of the evil wizard to live with us, even if he's injured and weak at the moment, really tops everything,'_ she thought, angrily. ' _If I had anywhere to go, I'd just take Draco and leave. Maybe when Draco will go back to Hogwarts next week, I'll think about it. I just hope Draco won't make the same mistakes as his father.'_

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

When Amelia left through the Floo, Remus excused himself. "I'll go and check if either Minerva or Severus are back yet. I suggest that you go to bed and get some sleep though. I'll ask both of them to come here for breakfast tomorrow, so that we can talk about everything."

"Thanks Remus," Harry replied, unable to suppress a yawn. "Good night."

"Good night, Remus," Ceridwen echoed.

"Good night, Harry and Ceridwen," Remus replied, smiling, before he left the room in search of his colleagues.

"Ceridwen," Harry spoke up in a soft voice, "thanks for being here with me and for me and doing everything together with me. I wouldn't want to live in this time without you."

Ceridwen cast him a genuine smile. "Same here, Harry. I'm very happy to have you, too. Good night, dear."

HP

Early the next morning, Harry woke up to an owl tapping against his window. He lazily dragged himself out of bed and accepted the parchment that was attached to the bird's feet. It was a letter from Amelia Bones.

 _'That was fast,_ ' he thought, as he quickly unfolded the parchment.

 _'Dear Harry, dear Ceridwen,_

 _This is to let you know that Unspeakable Raros will take care of both matters of which you have informed me earlier. He's the one who is most qualified in both cases. I have advised him to speak with you, and I'd like to advise you to confide in him. He has my full trust to act in Sirius' and your best interest._

 _Best regards  
Amelia Bones  
Head of Magical Law Enforcement  
Ministry of Magic'_

Taking the letter to the living room, Harry placed it onto the table for Ceridwen to see when she would come out of her bedroom, before he returned to his own room to take a shower and ready himself for the day.

When he returned to the living room, Ceridwen had yet to show up, however, another owl was perched on the window sill.

 _'Is it owl day today?'_ he thought in annoyance, as he went to relieve the owl of its letter.

 _'Dear Ms. Hufflepuff, dear Mr. Potter,  
The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, has advised me to speak to the two of you concerning the matters, which you brought to her attention yesterday. Therefore, I'd like the two of you to visit me in my office at ten o'clock this morning. This parchment will turn into a Portkey at exactly ten o'clock. Please make sure to hold on to it on time._

 _I am looking forward to meeting you.  
Best greetings  
Unspeakable Raros'_

"He doesn't even ask if we wish to come," Harry blurted out, feeling strangely annoyed by the fact, even if he knew that it was clear that they would indeed go to speak with the Unspeakable.

"Who doesn't ask if we'd come?" Ceridwen asked, smiling broadly, as she entered the room.

"Good morning," Harry greeted her, feeling much relieved by his best friend's ever pleasant smile. "Here, we've got two letters this morning and an appointment at the Ministry of Magic at ten o'clock," he explained, pointing to the parchments on the table.

"Oh, that's good, and at least something's happening," Ceridwen commented after reading both letters. "Maybe you're going to have a godfather soon."

"If that's the case, then he'll be your godfather, too," Harry said, indignantly. "If he's not willing to become your godfather as well, then I don't want him either."

Ceridwen chuckled, just when Minerva, Severus and Remus joined them.

"Gina," Harry quickly called the Potter elf, who popped in instantly, "would you please bring us breakfast for five persons?"

"Of course, Master Harry," Gina replied with apparent pleasure, and an instant later, breakfast that could rival the meals, which the Hogwarts elves used to serve in the mornings, popped up on the table.

"Letters?" Severus enquired, glancing at the two parchments, which were still spread out on the table, in apparent surprise.

"Yes, we're supposed to speak with Unspeakable Raros about the matter with Sirius and the Dark Lord at ten o'clock this morning," Harry quickly informed the professors. "The parchment is a Portkey, and I suppose they're going to provide one for our way back, too."

"Otherwise, you can just use the fireplace," Remus reassured them.

"How is Ginny Weasley, and do you have any other news?" Ceridwen enquired, giving Severus a concerned look.

The Potions master let out a deep sigh. "Ms. Weasley will live; however, she's a Squib. The healer informed us that her magic was drained to a great extent and that they won't be able to restore it. Perhaps over time, it might be possible that it'll restore itself, but frankly speaking, the chances are extremely low. Since they can't do anything for her at the hospital that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to provide for her, she has been brought to the hospital wing last night. However, she won't be able to attend Hogwarts."

"She was supposed to become a first-year next week," Minerva added in a grave voice.

"Oh no," Harry blurted out in shock. ' _The poor girl. Losing one's magic must be an absolute horror.'_

"Harry and Ceridwen, you saved her life," Minerva informed them. "If we hadn't found and rescued her when we did, she wouldn't have made it. Even if she lost her magic, she'll still be able to lead a happy life."

' _A happy life?_ ' Harry thought, feeling devastated, although he did not even know the girl. ' _Having known magic her whole life and then having it taken from her, I can't believe that anyone could easily recover from that._ '

 _tbc..._

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments on this story! Please continue letting me know what you think. Having a hard time convincing my muse to continue with this story._


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